Daughter of the Infamous Child
by illscratchhiseyeout
Summary: "When my daughter..." Missy mentioned she had a daughter, what if the Master saved her from the Time War. the Doctor has a duty of care for his best enemy's child.
1. The name of the Doctor

Clara Oswald, the Doctors current human companion, was rather confused when she found herself falling into a seat before Vastra the Silurian, Jenny the human and Strax the Sontaran, recalling the trio from Victorian Yorkshire with the Crimson Horror, when she should have fallen to her bedroom floor. Two more chairs were around the table as she was offered tea by Vastra, with Strax complaining about one of the other people having large hair and the other being quite mean.

"At least I'm not obsessed with grenades!" Clara jumped as in the seat next to her, glaring at the Sontaran, a young girl appeared. She obviously knew the trio considering both Vastra and Jenny just sighed and rolled their eyes at her bitter attitude. She looked quite young, early 20's at the latest in human years (if she was human) with a dark buzzed cut and violet eyes. So probably not human then, given she knew the trio before them it made sense, and the eyes were a big give away, none of the human she had met had natural violet coloured eyes.

"Just with every other type of explosion." Another woman spoke, with large and curly hair but she was older.

"And you're a psychopath with a blaster always by your side."

"Help yourself to tea," Vastra cut in.

"Thank you," the older woman took a cup but as it reached her lips it turned into a champagne flute.

"How did you do that?" Jenny asked, impressed.

She grinned, "Disgracefully."

"You think you're so impressive," the other girl stuck up her nose as she took a sip of her banana milkshake. Well, it was only right, she was legally bananas.

Vastra cleared her throat, making the group look at her, "perhaps you haven't met," judging by the fact that Clara was gaping at the pair, she obviously didn't know them. "This is the Doctors companion...Clara Oswald."

"Clara Oswald," the younger girl repeated quietly, taking a sip of her drink, "I'm the Raven." She licked the milkshake off her upper lip.

"Like the Doctor?" She asked.

The girl narrowed her eyes, "In a way..." she offered.

"Have you gone a darker green?" Strax asked Vastra, as though trying to break the tension caused by Ravens bitterness from Clara innocent question. Honestly, the were expecting Raven answer to be a lot worse.

"Remind me Strax. How's life as a Sontaran butler?" She smirked as the Sontaran glared across at her.

"Professor River Song," the woman nodded to Clara, cutting Strax off before he declared war on the Raven.

"River Song?" Clara repeated, she was sure she had heard the name before. "Sorry," she shook her head and looked back at Raven, or more the Raven as it seemed, "have…have we met before?" She had definitely seen her face somewhere before. She just couldn't remember from where. It was probably just in passing somewhere, but she was certain she had seen her from somewhere before.

She sipped her milkshake, "doubt it."

Clara eyed her, curious to who this girl was and how she knew who she was. River, well, she had heard the Doctor mention the woman before, didn't actually realise she was a woman. River was a unisex name after all, so was Raven. But now knowing she was a woman she surprised herself she didn't realise it sooner, she was friends with the Doctor after all. The Doctor did tend to have a thing with woman, spoke to them more.

"Why are we here, lizard?" Raven demanded, "Did you just bring us here for a chat, if so, I swear..."

The woman glared at her for that remark, but got them on topic, "Yes. Of course." And with a wave of her hand a 3D projection of a man in a cell appeared before them, "Clarence Demarco. Murderer under sentence to death. He offered us these in exchange for his life."

"Space time coordinates." River and Raven spoke at once. And with another wave of her hand Vastra changed the projection to stars and lines and circles.

"How did he get this information?" Raven tensed.

"He claims it is the location of the Doctors greatest secret."

"That's not answering my question."

"He claims the Whisper Men told him."

"The what?" She gasped, before holding up a hand as Vastra opened her mouth, "I know what they are." They were a story back on Gallifrey, like the boogeyman to humans. She could remember when he father used to tell her the poem, trying to spook her, 'do you hear the Whisper Men? The whisper men are near. If you hear the Whisper Men then turn away your ear. Do not hear the whisper men whatever else you do. For once you've heard the Whisper Men they'll stop and look at you.' "They're just a myth!" She insisted.

"Like the Toclafane?" River spoke softly knowing it was a tough subject for her.

Raven sent her a dark look but had to agree. The Toclafane were supposed to just be myths but the Master had created them to get to the Doctor. They could be real in that sense.

"But this is different. They were humans from the future being killed and brought back into the past. This is..."

"What secret is hidden there?" Clara shook her head. "You said it was the Doctors but he has loads."

"His name." Raven stated, "Hardly anyone in this universe knows it."

"This universe?" Clara caught more into that than the fact that there was a few people who knew it.

She ignored the human as River spoke, "I know it."

"You know his name?" Clara turned to her.

"Both Raven and I."

"He told you?"

"He had too." She shrugged.

"And you know it?" Clara frowned at Raven who nodded distractedly as she stared at the coordinates.

"Vastra," Raven snapped her gaze to the lizard woman, "these coordinates are they, or are they not for Trenzalore?"

Vastra nodded sadly, "they are."

"What did he say?" River inquired, "His exact words, what were they?"

Vastra waved her hand and the projection changed to Demarcos face, speaking the words himself "'The Doctor has a secret he will take to his grave. It is discovered.'"

Raven nodded. The Doctor couldn't go there. The amount of rules broken for a Time Lord to go to their own grave, the amount of laws! He COULD NOT go there!

Her mind was distracted that she didn't hear Jenny mumbling that someone had broken in until the woman began to fade.

"You're under attack!" River gasped, jumping up as Vastra cried out for her lover, "You must wake up now, just wake up!" She leaned over and slapped Vastra across the face waking her up as Raven poured the champagne over Strax, smashing the glass over his head.

"Raven," River looked at her as she ran a hand along her cheek, feeling something touching her.

"Yeah, I know." She nodded and before their eyes she disappeared, leaving River and Clara alone with the Whisper Men in the dream state.

~*~

Raven gasped awake to find herself lying on a dirt floor. High above them a window showed the dark stormy sky outside, along the top the letters 'police', she knew exactly what it was, the TARDIS, the Doctors TARDIS, after he had died, the exterior dimensions leak out to make it larger on the outside as well as the inside.

She wasn't alone, she didn't know how she felt about that, Vastra was holding Jenny, the woman still and lifeless as Strax sent an electro pulse at her. Jenny coughed awake. All of them had been brought to wherever they were via the Whisper Men.

"Just a standard electro-cardio restart." Strax explained, "She'll be fine."

"Are you alright, my love?" Vastra asked Jenny, "Can you hear me?"

"The heart is a relatively simple thing."

"I have not found it to be so."

"I see who have repaired your pet." A man with a long, stern looking face approached the group with Whisper Men behind him, snarling at them, "no matter. I was only attracting your attention. I presume I have it."

"Doctor Simeon," Vastra glared, "this is not possible."

"And yet here we are, meeting again, so very far from home."

"Didn't he die?" Jenny frowned, recalling from Christmas when the Doctor had been mourning the Ponds.

"Simeon died," Vastra nodded, "but the creature inside him lived on. I take it we are now talking to the Great Intelligence?"

"The Great Intelligence." Raven repeated quietly. She was sure she had heard that name before.

"Welcome to the final resting place of the cruel tyrant." Simeon announced, "of the slaughter of the 10 billion, and the vessel of the final darkness. Welcome to the tomb of the Doctor."

As if on cue, lightning flashed around him.

"Do you have your own mood lightning?" Raven smirked, "because frankly your face is bad enough as it is."

Simeon narrowed his eyes at her but didn't react to her comment, "it was a minor skirmish, by the Doctors blood-soaked standards. Not exactly the Time War but enough to finish jinx on the end, it was too much for the old man."

Raven scoffed, "the Doctor? Blood-soaked? Seriously, you think that man is blood-soaked, you've got to be kidding me."

He turned to look at her, "tell that to the leader of the Sycorax, or Solomon the trader, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day, and he will have other names before the end. The Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard."

"Ever heard of the Time Lord called the Master?" Raven wondered, "He is blood-soaked. Gallifreys infamous child. Heard of him?"

"How did you come by this information?" Vastra inquired.

"I am information." Simeon stated.

"You were a mind without a body last time we met." Jenny spoke up.

"And you were supposed to stay that way." Vastra added.

"Alas I did." Simeon pulled at his face before crumbling to the ground and a Whisper Man stepped forwards, transforming into Simeon again. "As you can see."

The Great Intelligence stood before the doors of the TARDIS, eying them intently as the group stood behind him, "the doors require a key. The key is a word. And the word...is the Doctors."

"Here I am," a voice spoke and they all turned to see the Doctor walking over, looking very serious despite his suspenders and bowtie, Clara by his side, "late to my own funeral. Glad to see you could make it, Jenny." He glanced back at her as she nodded, "Raven." He gave a short nod at her.

Clara had told him everything about the conference call, told him River had been there (after she had been to the library) but also that the girl had been there, a friend of Rivers apparently, and also that she knew him. He knew a lot of people, didn't forget anyone them, so who was this girl? And just how did she know about him. Clara had said that she knew his name, which was impossible. But…time travel. From his future perhaps? He knew he probably looked weird staring so interntly at her, but he knew he knew her from somewhere? He just couldn't remember where.

"Open the door, Doctor," the intelligence ordered, "speak and open your tomb."

"No."

"Because you know what's in there?"

"I will not open those doors."

"The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you aloneness the answer to a question."

"I will not open my tomb," the Doctor repeated firmly.

"Doctor what is your name," Simeon smirked at the whisper men as the man didn't answer, "The Doctors friends, stop their hearts."

"Madam, boys, combat formation," Strax instructed as the Whisper Men hissed and advanced on them, "they are unarmed."

"So are we!" Jenny argued.

"Do not divulge our military secrets."

"Doctor," Raven looked at him, with wide helpless eyes, "as much as I know you have all the right not to trust me. I'd really love it if you stopped this."

The Doctor looked back at her, frowning. It didn't matter who she was right now, she was still just a kid, "stop this!" He cried to Simeon as the Whisper Men each grabbed their hearts, in Ravens case her left, "Leave them alone!"

"You're name, Doctor," Simeon glared, "answer me."

Raven narrowed her eyes as she made to punch the Whisper Man before her, only to go straight through him, "holy Omega."

"Doctor who?"

"Leave them alone!" The Doctor begged, "Please, just leave them alone!"

Raven looked over to the side, behind Simeon where River Song stood, unable to be seen by anyone else. She winked in her directions

"Please!" The Doctor pleaded and the tomb doors opened. The Whisper Men pulled back.

"Why did you open the door, sir?" Strax inquired, "I had them on the run."

"I didn't do it," he shook his head, "I didn't say my name."

"Well someone did," Raven shrugged, "don't complain." Simeon got the tomb open, which was what he wanted and the Doctor still didn't say his name, which was what he wanted. Everyone was a winner. Even though his tomb was never meant to be open. So, maybe he didnt get what he wanted, not completely.

The Doctor frowned at her, trying to figure out who she was. He had to have known her, how else would she be here?

"Is everyone alright?" He asked them, "Clara, you ok?"

"That was not nice." She breathed, rubbing her heart to sooth it.

"I know. I'm sorry," he hugged her before turning and glaring at Simeon, "now then, Doctor Simeon, or Mister G Intelligence, whatever I call you, do you know what's in there?"

"For me, peace at last," Simeon remarked, "for you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?"

The Doctor tensed his jaw as he pushed the doors wider, entering his tomb, allowing them all to follow. It was just like how the console looked currently just older and abandoned with vines growing around, very dark and broken. The Doctor led them up the stairs to a higher level as Raven buried her hands in her pockets, uncomfortable with being in the TARDIS after what she had done to it before.

They followed the sound of the cloister bell and where the console should have been was a bright light with strands rotating around.

Raven stared at the light, at least if the TARDIS was here when the Doctor died she knew she didn't do it any harm, like she had done so many years ago.

"What is that?" Clara frowned, transfixed on the console.

"What were you expecting, a body?" The Doctor sighed, rubbing his face, "bodies are boring. I've had load of them. Nah, that's not what my tomb is for."

"But what is the light?" Vastra wondered

"It's beautiful," Jenny agreed.

"Should I destroy it?" Strax inquired only to full flat on his face as Raven hit his probic vent in the back of his neck.

She shrugged as everyone stared at her, "come on, you were all thinking it."

"Ok," Clara blinked slowly, watching the fallen Sontaran, after her last meeting with him she didn't expect it to be quite so easily for him to get beaten. That girl was good, whoever she was. She shook her head, seeing the Doctor still looking at the light, "explain. What's the light?"

"The tracks of my tears." The Doctor murmured.

Simeon just looked unimpressed, "less poetry, Doctor just tell them."

"Time travel is dangerous. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. This is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore." He sighed, flashing the sonic at the lying and echoing around them were the different regenerations of the Doctor.

"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wondered in the 4th dimension?" The 1st Doctor asked.

"Cybermen..." The 6th, "they're still in the nursery compared to us..."

"There are corners of the universe that have bred the most dangerous things..." The 2nd.

"Do I have the right?" Then the 4th.

"You were fantastic!" 9th, "absolutely fantastic!"

"I'm the Doctor," the 10th, "I'm from Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborus..."

"So you see..." the 5th Doctor.

"Hello Stonehenge!" And the current Doctor before the 3rd Doctor was last;

"It was the daisies the daisy is ever seen."

"My own personal time tunnel," the Doctor mumbled, "all the days, even the ones that..." He blinked, suddenly feeling dizzy, "I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet." He suddenly collapsed to the floor, or would have done had Raven not caught him, and lowered him gently to the ground.

She gave a small smile as he stared intently at her. He was so sure he'd seen those violet eyes before. But where? He really was getting old…

"Doctor!" Clara gasped joining Raven at his side.

"I shouldn't be here," he breathed, "The paradox...it's too much."

"Why did you ever come here?" Raven shook her head at him, "you knew the consequences but came anyway? Why?"

"I had...to help you lot..."

"Oi!" She yelled at Simeon or whatever the hell he was, as he approached the light, "stop right there!"

"The Doctors life is an open wound," he remarked, "and an open wound can be entered."

"No!" the Doctor cried, "it would destroy you."

"Not at all," he smirked, "it will kill me, it will destroy you. I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath. Change any moment of yours..."

"It would burn you up, once you go through, you can't come back, you'll be scattered along my timeline, like confetti."

"It matters not, Doctor. You thwart me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace as I take revenge on every second of your life. Goodbye Doctor!" And with that, he stepped in the light with a scream. The Whisper Men disappearing as the light consumed him.

"What's wrong with him?" Clara yelled, holding the Doctor as he cried in pain, "what's happening?"

"His entire time line is being rewritten," Raven stated, staring at the light, watching as Simeon changed the Doctors past.

"Simeon is attack his entire timeline," Vastras eyes widened, "he's dying all at once. The Dalek Asylum. Androzani."

"What did you say?" Clara turned to her, "did you say the Dalek Asylum?"

"Now he's dying in London, with us. A universe without the Doctor. There will be consequences, Jenny. With me." They turned and left the room, leaving Strax still on the ground.

"The Dalek Asylum," Clara mused, "you said it was me that saved you. How? Victorian London. How, how could I have been in Victorian London?"

"I doubt it matters," Raven shook her head.

"I think it does," she argued softly, running her hands through the Doctors hair, "I have to go in there," she turned to the light.

"Please, no…" the Doctor pleaded softly.

"But this is what I've already done, you've already seen me do it. I'm the impossible girl and this is why. If I step in there…what happens?"

"Human scum." Strax awoke, glaring at them as he got to his feet, ready to attack. His past had been changed with the Doctor unable to help him. Raven merely rolled her eyes and knocked him out again.

"But the echoes could save the Doctor, right?" Clara continued. "But they'll be real enough to save him. Like my mum said, the soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"

"The stars are going out." Vastra gasped as she returned, "And Jenny is dead." She glanced at the fallen Sontaran, she knew he should have awoken by now, "Strax, is he…there must be something we can do?"

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with a human." Raven grimaced just at the thought, "it might just work."

Clara beamed at that. During the conference call she had gathered that Raven wasn't fond of many people, especially her and Jenny. It had only been River she seem partially on good terms with, "Well, how about that. I am soufflé girl after all."

"No," the Doctor tried to reach for her but she was already out of arm's length, "please…"

"If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then. In fact you know what? Run. Run, you clever boy. And remember me." She smiled down at the Doctor before stepping into the light, the light expanding around them all…

~*~

"It is you, isn't it?" the Doctors moved to Ravens side as the timelines turned back to normal, all alive and well again, thanks to Clara's sacrifice.

She merely nodded, hands deep in her pockets, not wanting to talk about it.

"_Saska?"_ he spoke in Gallifreyan. She was there, during the-year-that-never-was. She had escaped the war with her father, the Master, while the man turned human she didn't, just pretended to be human, feeling like the last of their kind, alone at the end of everything. Once the year had been reversed after seeing Lucy kill the Master she had taken off, no one had seen or heard of her since. She was quite well known in early 21st century Earth after the whole issue with her father. She'd been on all the news the year running up to him becoming Prime Minister, everyone would recognise her if she stuck around.

Now he recognised her he was surprised he hadn't straight away. She hadn't regenerated, she was probably using a perception filter or something. Here she was, dressed in black jeans, a black top with black ankle boots with a long and thick leopard printed fur coat with a hood over her head. She had chopped her hair off, last time it had been long. But she always hated long hair, despite that it always grew so quickly, was constantly chopping it off.

"Hey, Doc," she offered, before pointing to his time tunnel, "your human girl…"

"Yes," he nodded, seeing she didn't want to talk right now. He would get answers from her though. He hadn't been able to speak to her during the year he had been locked up on the Valiant, "we need to get Clara back."

"But how?" Jenny asked.

"Is she still alive?" Vastra added, "It killed Dr Simeon."

"Clara's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence." The Doctor told them.

"Which is?"

"Me. Now…if I don't come back…and I might not…" he blinked as Raven pointed at his neck, "what?" he frowned, his hand touching his bowtie as his eyes widened, undoing it and grinning, wrapping one end around his hand a few times for security before jumping into his timeline with Raven holding the other end.

"What are you doing?"

"River!" Raven snapped, having been able to hear the woman the whole time and had been ignoring her, "for gods sake, shut up! I hate this human side of yours!"

"This isn't safe. And you, you actually agreed to this, to save a human."

"Guess you've worn of on me, old bird."

River smirked at her nickname, "guess so." Before she turned solemn, "why didn't you show you could still hear me?"

"It didn't matter. You were an associate at Luna. You're decent, River. For a human plus Time Lord. But we could never be friends."

"Because you were raised to think of humans as nothing more that apes. Just you wait."

"You'll never get a proper goodbye from him."

"I know." She let out a breath, "Just tell him I said goodbye."

"I will."

"Goodbye, Raven."

"Goodbye Melody." Raven nodded to her as River slowly faded from the room.

It was then she felt the Doctor tugging on the rope and knew he had found Clara. She tugged on the rope, heaving to pull the pair out of the time tunnel. Vastra, Jenny and Strax hurrying to help. The trio taking Clara from the Doctor, Strax checking her life sign's as Raven helped the Doctor to his feet.

~*~

Raven leaned against the railings in the console room, watching the Doctor slowly move around the console getting them into the vortex. The first thing he'd done was take Clara into the medbay, she was fine. Mostly. Tied and weak. But alive. He'd then taken Vastra, Jenny and Strax back to their time period. The Silurian sending a final concerned glance at leaving the two alone and so here they were the last Time Lord and the last Time Lady in the universe.

She was purposely keeping a safe distance from the console, she knew the box held a grudge and likely hated her for helping to turn her into a paradox machine. But how could she had gone against her father all those years ago?

"Why didn't you tell me," the Doctor sighed, finally break the silence, "you disappeared Saska. I thought you died..."

"My father died," she stated bitterly, "killed by the woman he married."

"The woman he manipulated and corrupted for an entire year while enslaving and killing the human race."

"He was still my father."

He sighed, turning to lean his back against the console to face her fully, "what happened to you?"

She shrugged, avoiding his piercing green eyes, "I stole the vortex manipulator from the Time agent. Ended up at Luna University during the 22nd century. That's where I met River...I couldn't stay in 21st century Earth. Everyone saw my face, everyone would recognise me for what my father did." She swallowed. It wasn't right that at the time she hadn't stopped him. So close since the war she had been bitter, angry, took it out on the humans. They'd done nothing wrong, but she hadn't sided with them. Hadn't gone against him. Not once.

"Do you know about...?"

"About Christmas 2009?" He nodded cautiously, "yeah. I know what happened."

She knew about the secret order that had taken her fathers ring from his burning body, using it and the DNA from Lucy to bring him back. How Lucy had once again killed him. How Gallifrey had returned above the planet. How he had ended up sacrificing himself for the Doctor. Sending them back into the Time War. She closed her eyes. His entire life had been manipulated just for that moment, everything he was and had become was because of Rassilon.

What a prick.

"I'm sorry..." the Doctor breathed.

She inhaled sharply, "so am I."

"So...do you...want to go back to Luna?"

"I have nowhere else."

"I mean..." he looked at her, eying her reaction. How she hung back, kept her distance, avoided eye contact. He had to wonder when the last time she got a hug was. "You're welcome to stay?" He offered.

"I don't think your box would like that after what I did to her."

"She'll get over. She knows you didn't mean it." He rubbed his hand over the console, "don't you?"

He was returned with a low hum, almost regretful.

"I mean it's your choice but..." he smirked at her, "if you decide to leave I will have to drop by on occasion to see how you're doing. I have a duty of care now."

"Oh..." she moaned. She should have seen that coming. "Fine." She grit her teeth, "I'll give it a week and I'll see if I can work an agreement with your box. I'm not promising anything though."

He grinned, "good enough for me."

**A/N: This has been in the back of my mind for so long, everytime the Master returned it spark inspiration to continue and now eith the recent episode i finally decided to upload.**

**Please tell me what you think.**

**Also i picture Raven to look similar to Brianna Hildebrand.**


	2. The day of the Doctor

"See?" The Doctor smiled as he watched Raven pilot them to Earth. He had already sent a message to Clara's school, with coordinates for where they were planning on landing just out of the city. The plan was to meet her while he helped Raven bond with the TARDIS. Even he could admit the box was a little testy around the poor girl. "It's fine. She's fine with you."

"Only because you're here and will complain if anything happened," Raven muttered, stepping back once she'd landed them on the side of the road.

At least she had managed to past her TARDIS examinations when she had been in the Academy, had done rather well in fact. She had done quite well in all of her examinations and graduated with flying colours. Both in Gallifreyan Academy and Luna University. Her father had been very pleased with her.

"Nah!" He waved her off, "she wouldn't do that." He grinned at her but did glare at the rotor on warning as soon as Raven adverted her gaze.

"See?" Raven gestured to the TARDIS as they opened and Clara rode in on the motorbike the Doctor had gifted her with. "She can ride in on a bike, leaving the doors wide open and letting a draft in but if I do much as touch the wrong thing by mistake its..." she tried to switch the monitor only to get an electric shock and pull her hand back, "that."

Clara removed her helmet shaking her hair loose, as she snapped her fingers, the door shutting, "better?"

"Not really," She grumbled, sucking on her finger.

"Well put it this way," the Doctor look up from where he sat reading in the stairs leading to the under console, "you're trying and she's not. So it makes you the better person."

"Don't worry the old cow didn't like me at first either," Clara remarked, sympathetic. She knew what it was like to have her room deleted after she got out of the shower, or end up getting chased down the never ending corridors by a holographic tiger.

Raven just glared at the console, still sucking on her finger.

"Fancy a week in ancient Mesopotamia followed by future Mars?" The Doctor shook his head, shifting the conversation to something more fun.

"Will there be cocktails?" Clara smirked.

"On the Moon."

"But not Raven; she's too young. Actually Raven," he turned to frown at her, "how old are you now?" He knew that when he left Gallifrey she had graduated from the Academy. He had been there to see that. It had been a few years after he left that the Master followed but he wasn't sure how long it had been for her since the Year That Never Was. For him it had been nearly 300 years.

She shrugged, "it's rude to ask a lady of her age." She stuck her nose up.

"So you don't know," Clara smirked at her.

"Not a clue." She sighed, "does it matter?"

"No." The Doctor shook his head, "suppose not." Must have been a few years if she couldn't remember her age. Or she just gave up. If she was on the moon at Luna University with a River then she probably ended up faking a human age for a while.

"I suppose the moon will have to do." Clara laughed lightly.

The Doctor grinned, hugging her, "How's the new job? Teach anything good?"

"No. Learn anything?"

"Not a thing!" He cheered only for the alarms to blare as they stumbled, the room moving suddenly.

"What's happening?" Clara cried, grabbing the console for support.

"Doctor!" Raven gasped, moving to the rails, not trusting the TARDIS if she moved closer to the console. She was certain she was doing this is spite of her.

"Whoa, whoa." He stumbled over to the console to see for himself, "We're taking off, but the engines aren't going."

"Well obviously!" Raven rolled her eyes. The room was still silent.

"Oh!" He huffed, moving his way over to the doors, peeking down to see them flying towards London, glancing up to see a helicopter lifting them. He squinted just making out the organisations name in the side and dialled a number on the phone.

"Is it that flipping UNIT lot?" Raven scowled.

"Shh!" He called, speaking into the phone, "its me! The Doctor..." he paused listening to the person on the other side, "no kidding!" He lifted the phone up closer to the helicopter.

Raven cursed as the man leaned out of the doors a bit too much, slipping, and rush to grab his ankles as he fell out of the TARDIS. "Idiot."

He ignored her, reaching for the phone he lost as Clara joined her, grabbing his other foot, knowing how heavy the man was. "Next time would it kill you to knock!" He grumbled into the phone. "Whoa! I'm just going to pop you on hold." He let go of the phone a moment, looking up at the girls, "let go. I can get a better grip on the handles under the TARDIS."

Clara looked at Raven for reassurance as the Doctor leaned back to get a grip with his hand. The girl shrugging and letting go of the foot she was holding. Clara letting go as well as his feet slid out and she dared a peek under to see him grinning at her, dangling under the TARDIS as they crossed over the themes.

The TARDIS was lowered down before the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The Doctor dropping to the ground and saluting the UNIT soldiers before him. "Why am I saluting?" He frowned at himself.

"Ah, UNIT grunts," Raven grumbled, pulling up her hood over her head as she and Clara joined him once the TARDIS was safely in the ground, shutting the doors behind her so the old cow wouldn't complain at her for that. She had no idea who knew her as Harold Saxons daughter or how many would recognise her. Best not risk it with UNIT, even if the Doctor was there to defend her. She could defend herself if need be.

"Raven!" The Doctor whined at her.

"Doctor," a middle aged blonde woman in a long coat approached with a young woman in glasses and a long rainbow scarf, walked over to meet them, "as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT."

"Kate Lethbridge Stewart," the Doctor wagged a finger at her, "a word to the wise. As I'm sure your father would have told you, I don't like being picked up."

"That probably sounded better in his head." Clara grimaced.

"I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate continued, "Sealed orders from her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the First." Her assistant handed her a seal envelope which she handed to the Doctor.

"The Queen?" Clara blinked, "The First? Sorry, Elizabeth the First?"

"Her credentials are inside." The Doctor made to break the seal and so she quickly amended, "No. Inside." Gesturing to the gallery behind them.

The Doctor nodded, heading up first, keeping the letter in his pocket, "Nice scarf." He winked as he passed the assistant.

"Kate Stewart..." Raven began quietly as the woman spoke to her assistant about a cover story, "the Brigadiers daughter, im assuming."

"You know of him." He winced.

"My father mentioned he was rather trigger happy. What was it...shooting 5 times to ensure they were properly dead?"

"Yeah..." he rubbed the side of his cheek, "good old sir Alistair."

"Did you know her, Elizabeth the First?" Clara asked as Kate walked ahead to lead the way through the gallery.

"Unified Intelligence Task Force." He answered instead.

"Not what she asked." Raven muttered.

"Sorry?" Clara blinked.

"This lot." The Doctor sighed, "UNIT. They investigate alien stuff. Anything alien."

"What, like you...two?"

"I work for them."

"You have a job?" Clara stared, even Raven snorted. The idea of him on a pay roll even for UNIT was just so absurd to her.

"Why shouldn't I have a job?" He defended, "I'd be brilliant at having a job."

"You don't have a job." Clara shook her head.

"I do. This is my job. I'm doing it now."

"You never have a job."

"I do!" He insisted, "I do."

The playful banter was cut short as they walked into an empty room, or would be empty besides the large covered painting. The man who seemed to be guarding it removed the covering to reveal the horrors beneath.

"Elizabeth's credentials." Kate eyed their reactions.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Raven deadpanned.

That painting. The oil painting in 3D...was Arcadia. Gallifrey's second city. By the fires and damage shown it seemed to be the fall of Arcadia. Which she knew to be near the final days of the war.

"But..." Clara blinked, staring at it, "but that's not possible."

"No more." The Doctor breathed.

"That's the title." Kate nodded.

"I know the title." He snapped.

"Also known as Gallifrey Falls."

"This painting doesn't belong here, not in this time or place."

"Obviously." Clara scoffed.

"It's the fall of Arcadia," he explained, knowing that the Master had taken Raven and run away way before the end of the war, "Gallifrey's second city."

"But how is it doing that?" She stepped closer to the painting, raising her hand to see it truely was just a paint...but in 3D, "How is that possible? It's an oil painting in 3D."

"Time Lord art." Raven stared, "Bigger on the inside."

"A slice of real time, frozen." The Doctor expanded.

"Elizabeth told us where to find it, and its significance." Kate remarked from the side.

_"You alright?"_ Raven whispered, slipping into Gallifreyan for privacy.

_"He was there."_

_"My father?"_ She frowned. No, he wasn't. She knew he had been too much of a coward. He had took her hand and ran during early days. The coward.

He shook his head, _"I've had many faces, many lives. I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and that was the day he did it. The day I did it. The day he killed them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks. And in that battle there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other, a man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe. And that man was me."_

"But the Time War's over." Clara frowned. She knew, even not understanding their language that they meant the Doctor secret incarnation from the war. She had seen him from his time tunnel, "Why have you brought us here to look at a painting?"

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials, proof that the letter is from her. It's not why you're here."

The Doctor pulled the letter out again, finally able to break the seal and reading the letter.

'My dearest love, I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth who writes to you now. You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery, where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned. God speed, gently husband.'

"You married the virgin queen?" Raven stared as she read the letter over his shoulder.

He ignored her, looking at Kate for further information, "What happened?"

"Easier to show you." She turned and led them off. The man standing guard of the painting answering his phone as the shutter closed behind them as they walked off down to a large portrait of the Doctors previous self dressed in Elizabethan clothing.

"Elizabeth the First." Raven whistled.

"You knew her, then?" Clara smirked.

"A long time ago." The Doctor sighed. He should have known that day would come back and haunt him.

"This way." Kate pulled the portrait open by its hinges reveal a secret passageway behind, leading them into the semi darkness, "Welcome to the Under Gallery. This is where Elizabeth the First kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption."

The Doctor crouched down, scooping up a handful of the sand from the floor letting it run through his fingers as Raven put her hands in her pockets, eying the covered statues and she scrunched her nose in distaste.

"Stone dust." The Doctor mused.

"Is it important?" Kate glanced back at him.

"In 1200 years I've never stepped in anything that wasn't." He glanced back hearing a squeak to see the assistant with the rainbow scarf hiding away, "Oi, you. Are you sciency?"

"Oh," the girl rushed over to stand before him, "er, well, er, yes."

"Got a name?"

"Yes."

"There's no need to fumble around him," Raven rolled his eyes, "he's nothing spectacular."

"Oi!" He pouted at that, "I'll have you know I'm very spectacular!"

"Yeah?" She snorted, "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Fine." He looked at the assistant, "name?"

"Os...Osgood." She managed to get out, still fumbling in his presence.

"Alright then, Os...Osgood. Now, I want this stone dust analysed. And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums on my desk, tomorrow morning, ASAP, pronto, LOL. See?" He grinned at Clara, "Job. Do I have a desk?" He asked Kate.

"No." the woman shook her head.

"And I want a desk."

"Get a team." Kate instructed Osgood, "Analyse the stone dust. Inhaler!" She called leading them off again passing paintings and displays.

"Just because River isn't here does not mean that that fez is safe," Raven warned getting a glimpse of the Doctor stopping at a display and taking the fez from inside and putting it on his head, "I'll shoot it in her legacy."

"It's cool." He defended.

"Someday, you could just walk past a fez." Clara commented.

"Never gonna happen."

Kate led them into another room, carefully making her way to the other side over the broken glass in the floor. A simple room, with nothing but more paintings, all 3D oil paintings as well, all landscape.

"As you instructed, nothing has been touched." The man standing besides the painting stated.

"This is why we called you in." Kate remarked.

"3D again." Clara frowned.

"Interesting." The Doctor mused as she crouched to examine the glass on the ground.

"The broken glass?"

"Where its broken from," Raven corrected, examining a piece of her own, "if you look closely you can see the shatter pattern has been broken from inside." She frowned realising Clara had knelt to look at her piece, very close in her personal space and yet still she herself had said anything nor has she moved. She straightened up, dropping the glass to the floor again as she looked at the paintings.

"As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes." Kate remarked, "No figures of any kind."

"So?" The Doctor looked at her.

"There used to be." She picked up a tablet in the bench in the side of the room showing the original paintings had shadowing blobs in the distance.

"Something's got out the paintings." Clara realised.

"Lots of somethings." The Doctor agreed, "Dangerous."

"This whole place has been searched." Kate added, "There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out."

"Is that so..." Raven glanced back the way they came...only for a swirling white wormhole appeared before them.

"Oh no, not now." The Doctor moaned, noticing the time fissure before them.

"Doctor, what is it?" Clara eyed it.

"No, not now. I'm busy."

"Is it to do with the paintings?" Kate inquired.

"No, no. This is different. I remember this. Almost remember. Oh, of course. This is where I come in." He grinned, taking the fez of his wad and throwing it in the fissure, following with a cry of; "Geronimo!"

"Doctor!" Raven grabbed his arm to try and stop him from jumping into the unknown only to be sucked in with him.

"Oh, great!" Raven huffed as she landed on her bum in the woods, the Doctor not quite so lucky or coordinated and landing on his back with a groan and a thud on the grass and mud, "brilliant!"

"Oh, you're just a bundle of joy, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes getting to his feet only to notice they weren't alone. Standing and watching them was his previous self along with two identical Queen Elizabeth's.

She scowled at him, but one of the queens cut her off before she could speak, "who are these people?"

"That's just what I was wondering." The 10th Doctor remarked. The girl...she seemed familiar. He just couldn't quite place where from.

"Oh, that is skinny." The Doctor eyed his previous self, "That is proper skinny. I've never seen it from the outside. It's like a special effect. Oi!" He knocked the fez into the ground, "ha! Matchstick man."

"You're not..." the 10th Doctor groaned, pulling out his sonic, the current Doctor doing the same and extending his, smug. "Compensating."

"For what?"

"Regeneration. It's a lottery."

"Oh, ew." Raven grimaced, knowing exactly what he meant by compensating, "that's just disgusting!"

"Oh, shut up, Raven," the Doctor pointed at her.

"Hold on, Raven!" The 10th Doctors eyes widened at that. The same name, why he thought he had seen her face before. No! "Not..."

She sighed, "hullo, Doctor."

_"No!"_ He breathed, slipping into Gallifreyan, _"Saska...what happened to you..?"_

She shrugged answering in English, "I left. Made my own way in life."

"I thought you died. You just...disappeared. No one had seen or heard of you since..." he swallowed. Since he had burnt her fathers body. Not even offering for her to do the honours.

She had been there when he burnt the body, while the Master refused to regenerate to avoid being in the TARDIS with him, Raven didn't put up a fight. He hadn't even forced her to do anything, didn't keep her in his grasp or anything. She had stood in the darkness with him in silence until he stepped to the pyre and set it alight, when he turned around she was gone. He hadn't even thought to check if she had a Vortex Manipulator of her own.

"Well, I did disappear and I thought it best if the humans thought I died after what I helped do." She glanced at the current Doctor to try and change the topic. The man jumping in to insult his previous self.

"Oh, he's cool. Isn't he cool?" He mocked, "I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool. Oops, I'm wearing sandshoes."

"What are you doing here?" The 10th Doctor hissed to his future self, "I'm busy."

"Oh, busy. I see. Is that what we're calling it, eh? Eh?" He grabbed the fez and set it back on his head, turning to the two queens, "Hello, ladies."

"Don't start."

"Listen, what you get up to in the privacy of your own regeneration is your business."

"One of them is a Zygon."

"You can smell it." Raven scrunched her nose. She couldn't tell which was which right now as they were standing too close together but she could smell the zygon.

"Urgh." The Doctor grimaced, "in not judging you. Your Majesties. Probably a good time to run."

"But what about the creature?" One asked.

"Elizabeth," the 10th Doctor looked between them, "whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one."

"Stay alive, my love." One rushed and kissed him, "I am not done with you yet." And ran off through the trees.

"Thanks." He wiped his mouth in disgust, "Lovely."

"I understand." The second rushed up to him, "Live for me, my darling. We shall be together again." She as well kissed him before running in the other direction.

"Well, won't that be nice?"

"One of them was a Zygon," Raven reminded him.

"Yeah." He wiped his mouth again.

"You just kissed a Zygon."

"Yeah."

"Big red rubbery thing covered in suckers." The current Doctor smirked, joining in on teasing his previous self.

"Yeah."

"Venom sacs in the tongue."

"Yeah, I'm getting the point, thank you." He hissed.

"Doctor?" Clara called through the fissure, "is that you?"

"Ah, hello, Clara." The Doctor grinned despite she couldn't see them, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, it's me. We can hear you. Where are you?"

"England, 1562." The 10th Doctor called.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Himself." Raven rubbed her head, "there's two of them."

"Can you come back through?" Kate wondered.

"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions." The Doctor mused.

"So throw something back then." Raven grumbled.

"Ah!" The Doctor grinned, picking up his fez again, "Hang on. Fez incoming!" And tossed it through.

"Nothing here." Clara replied after a moment of waiting.

"So where did it go?" The 10th Doctor frowned. "Ok, you used to be me, you've done all this before. What happens next?"

"I don't remember..." the Doctor admitted as Raven rolled her eyes.

"How can you forget this?"

"Hey, hang on. It's not my fault. You're obviously not paying enough attention."

"Have you tried reversing the polarity?" Raven suggested, rolling her eyes as they both made to do the exact same thing, "seriously?" She huffed, "it doesn't take a genius to have to tell you that now one of you is reverting it and the others reversing it back."

They both lowered their sonics at that, about to debate who should be the one to reverse it when someone else dropped in. An older old with a greying beard and a worn jacket.

"Anyone lose a fez?" The Warrior asked them, holding the fez in his hands.

"Raven..." the Doctor tugged her behind him, away from his war self.

"You." The 10th Doctor breathed, stepping close to block Raven, "How can you be here? More to the point, why are you here?"

"Good afternoon." He smiled at them, "I'm looking for the Doctor."

"Well, you've certainly come to the right place."

"Good. Right. Well, who are you boys? Oh, of course. Are you his companions?"

"His companions?" The Doctor stared, insulted.

"I would never call myself that." Raven cut in.

"They get younger all the time. Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor?" The two men held up their sonics as Raven pointed at them both, "Really?"

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Really." The 10th Doctor agreed.

"You're me? Both of you?"

"Yep."

"Even that one?" He stared at the 11th Doctor.

"Yes!" He huffed.

"You're my future selves?" He looked between them.

"Yes!"

"Am I having a midlife crisis?" He wondered, stepping closer but the two men raised their sonics again, "Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols. Look like you've seen a ghost."

"Still, loving the posh gravelly thing." The 10th Doctor eyed him, "It's very convincing."

"Brave words, Dick van Dyke." The Doctor scoffed when a group of soldier quickly surrounded them.

"Encircle them." The soldier in charge ordered, "Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head."

"Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day." The Warrior remarked, bristling.

"I think there's three of them now." Clara remarked to Kate through the fissure.

"There's a procedure for that." Kate replied.

"What is that?"

"Oh, the pointing again." The Warrior groaned as his future selves raised their sonics again, "They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"If only there was a wood setting," Raven mocked.

"Well sonic screwdrivers are better than laser ones," the 10th Doctor shot back.

"Oh, solid burn, Doctor. Insult my fathers play toys."

"You insulted mine first."

"You're just admitting it's a play toy."

"Raven...!" The current Doctor whined, "do you have to be so bitter?"

"I didn't see her!" The 10th Doctor continued, "I didn't...I couldn't...i'm sorry, Raven."

"Yeah?" She scoffed, "so am I."

"That thing," the head guard turned to the fissure, "what witchcraft is it?"

"Ah, yes." The Doctor clapped, "Now that you mention it that is witchcraft. Yes, yes, yes. Witchy witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there. Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?"

"Why am I the witch?" Clara huffed, knowing he meant her.

"Clara, hi, hello." The Doctor waved at the fissure despite knowing she couldn't see them, "Hello. Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"What he said."

"Oh, brilliant!" Raven clapped mockingly, "that was truly magnificent o' powerful and mighty one!"

"Right, you asked for it," Clara cleared her threat, "Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs."

"Ooo, frogs." The Doctor grinned, "Nice. You heard her."

"Doctor," Clara sighed, "what's going on?"

"It's a timey-wimey thing."

"Timey what?" The Warrior shook his head, "Timey-wimey?"

"I've no idea where he picks that stuff up." The 10th Doctor rubbed his ear at the lie.

"The Queen." The soldier cried, dropping to their knees to kneel as the queen approached, "The Queen."

"You don't seem to be kneeling." The woman eyed them, "How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you?" Raven sniffed, there was still a lingering smell on the woman. Either human and had been near the Zygon to much or the Zygon had gotten a bit of dead human on her.

"What happened to the other one?" The 10th Doctor demanded.

"Indisposed." The queen smirked, "Long live the Queen."

"Long live the Queen." The soldier chanted.

"Arrest these men." She ordered, "and their girl. Take them to the Tower."

"Their girl?" Raven repeated, "I'm not any of their anything."

"That is not the Queen of England," the 10th Doctor announced, "that's an alien duplicate."

"And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked." The Doctor smirked.

"Oh, shut up."

"Venom sacs in the tongue."

"Seriously, stop it."

"It is a little disgusting," Raven had to agree, the man beaming that she was on his side.

"See?" The Doctor stuck his tongue out at him only to spin to the queen a second later, "No, hang on. The Tower. Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant. Love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?"

"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" The Warrior eyed him.

"Yes." He nodded, waving his hands again, "No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes, Granddad and bitter bird."

"Grandad?" The Warrior cried.

"They're not sandshoes." The 10th Doctor sighed.

"Yes, they are."

"I'm not actually that bitter," Raven remarked, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Yes, you are." The Doctor countered. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Silence." Elizabeth raised her voice at them, "The Tower is not to be taken lightly."

"Come on, you lot, get in there." The jailer shoved the Doctors in the cell roughly, being only slightly gentler with Raven before leaving them in the locked cell.

"Ow." The Warrior grunted, straightening his jacket.

"3 of us in one cell?" The Doctor sighed, picking up a stray nail from the floor, "That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon."

"What are you doing?" The 10th Doctor watched as his future self began to scratch away in a pillar.

"Getting us out."

"The sonic won't work on that," he turned to see his war self scanning the door with his own sonic, "it's too primitive."

"Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?" The Doctor joked.

"Ok, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon. But never mind that. Why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and Chinny, we were surprised, but you came looking for us. You knew it was going to happen. Who told you?"

"Oi, Chinny?" The Doctor pouted at that.

"You can poke someone's eye out with it." Raven commented.

"Oi! Yeah, well...you have no hair!" He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Solid burn, Doc."

"In theory," the Warrior mused, "I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate."

"We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level." The 10th Doctor added, "Even the sonic would take years."

"No, no, the sonic would take centuries. Oh, we might as well get started. Help to pass the timey-wimey." He sighed, glancing between his two future selves, "Do you have to talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown up? Oh, the way you both look at me. What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than dread."

"It must be really recent for you." The 10th Doctor remarked.

"Recent?"

"The Time War." The Doctor swallowed, "The last day. The day you killed them all."

"The day we killed them all."

"Same thing."

Raven frowned, watching the Warrior, as he looked at her, not just past her, looking at something behind her. She glanced back but nothing nor no one was there, "I don't want to talk about it." He murmured.

"We're not." She shook her head, "no one else is here..." she glanced back seeing him looking just passed her again. Nothing.

"Did you ever count?" He asked after a moment.

"Count was?" The Doctor asked.

"How many children there were on Gallifrey that day?"

They all tensed at that.

"Why would you ask that?" Raven breathed.

"I have no idea." The Doctor answered his previous self.

"How old are you know?" The Warrior asked him.

"Ah, I don't know." He shook his head, digging the nail a bit deeper than needed to on the wooden pillar, "I lose track. 1200 and something, I think, unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am."

Raven let out a breath at that, "and you..." she turned to the 10th Doctor, "you're about 900 year?" He nodded slowly. "Jeez..." it had been so long for him and yet so little time had passed for her. Only a couple of years.

"400 years older than me," the Warrior murmured, "and in all that time you've never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?"

The Doctor turned and looked at him, "Tell me, what would be the point?"

"2.47 billion." The 10th Doctor glared.

"Oh Rassilon!" Raven moaned, her face paling at the number. And there were just children, there were also adults that still added to that number.

"You did count!" The Warrior exclaimed.

"Don't sound too happy!" Raven snapped at him.

"You forgot?" The 10th Doctor rounded on his future self, "400 years is all it takes?"

"I moved on," he corrected.

"Where? Where can you be now that you can forget something like that?"

"Spoilers."

"Oh, I hate that word." Raven moaned.

"You're friends with the woman who always used that word," he countered.

"She wasn't my friend."

"No. No, no, no." The 10th Doctor cut in, not letting them have another conversation. Not with forgetting such a large number like that, "For once I would like to know where I'm going."

He narrowed his eyes, "No, you really wouldn't."

"I don't know who you are, either of you." The warrior shook his head at them, "I haven't got the faintest idea...No." He sighed a moment later.

"No?" Raven crossed her arms, "what do you mean no?" And again his gaze was on something behind her. Still nothing was there, well, nothing to the naked eye. Something only he could see, perhaps?

"Just, no."

The Doctor have a small laugh and so the 10th Doctor rounded on him again, "Is something funny? Did I miss a funny thing?"

"Sorry." He grinned sheepish, "It just occurred to me. This is what I'm like when I'm alone."

"And that's why you take on the mayflies." Raven realised, "that makes so much sense now!"

"Don't call them mayflies…please, just don't."

"400 years." The Warrior repeated quietly.

"I'm sorry?" the 10th Doctor blinked.

"At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they? Same software, different case."

"Yeah..."

"So?" the Doctor shook his head.

"So, it would take centuries for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door." The Warrior explained, "Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and, if you really are me, with your sandshoes and your dickie bow, and that screwdriver is still mine, that calculation is still going on."

The 10th Doctor checked his own, "Yeah, still going."

"Calculation complete." 11 grinned. "Hey, 400 years in 4 seconds. We may have had our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances, but, I tell you what, boys. We are incredibly clever…"

And then Clara came stumbling in.

"I knew it wasn't locked," Raven remarked, off handedly. She had been listening when the jailer left, there hadn't been a click of the lock.

"It wasn't?" the Doctor blinked, "right."

"Hold on," Clara frowned at that, "3 of you in one room…"

"It's like a never-ending nightmare." Raven cut in.

"Hey!" the two oldest Doctors pouted at that

"And not one of you thought to try the door?" Clara finished like they hadn't interrupted.

"It should have been locked." The Warrior mumbled.

"So they're both you, then, yeah?" Clara eyed the other two Doctors.

"Yes. You've met them before. Don't you remember?"

She scrunched, recalling seeing them in the time tunnel, "A bit. Nice suit." She nodded to 10.

"Thanks." He beamed.

"Hang on," Clara frowned, "did none of you think to check if the door was lock?"

"Do you really think he," Raven jerked her head at 11, "would do such a simple thing?"

"And you kept it to yourself?"

"Yup."

"It should have been locked." The Warrior frowned.

"Yes. Exactly." The Doctor agreed, "Why wasn't it locked?"

"Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping." A voice called as they looked over to see queen Elizabeth standing there, arms crossed, "I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you saw what's going to happen to it."

"The Zygons lost their own world." Elizabeth explained, leading the four aliens and one human through the dungeons where a group of Zygons had set base with the 3D paintings and machinery, "It burnt in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required."

"So they want this one?" Clara scoffed. Why did they always want Earth?

"Not yet. It's far too primitive. Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort."

"Commander," one hissed as it approached, "why are these creatures here?"

"Because I say they should be." She told him sternly, "It is time you too were translated. Observe this." She glanced at the group, "I believe you will find it fascinating."

The Zygon growled as it stalked off down to the lower landing and set its hand on a glass cube, waiting before he vanished and a shadowy figure appeared in the painting from earlier.

"That's him!" Clara gasped, "That's the Zygon in the picture now."

"It's not a picture, it's a stasis cube." The War Doctor corrected, "Time Lord Art. Frozen instant in time, bigger on the inside, but could be deployed as..."

"Suspended animation." The 10th Doctor cut him off, "Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and then out they come."

"You see," the Doctor put his arms over the girls as they looked down at the painting, quickly dropping the arm he had on Raven as she glared. No, they weren't at that level of comfort yet. "They're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like cup-a-soups. Except you add time, if you can picture that. Nobody could picture that. Forget I said cup-a-soups."

"And now the world is worth conquering." Clara realised, "So the Zygons are invading the future from the past."

"Exactly." He nodded.

"And do you know why I know that you're a fake?" The 10th Doctor rounded in the queen, "Because you're such a bad copy. It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close together, or the breath that could stun a horse. It's because my Elizabeth, the real Elizabeth, would never be stupid enough to reveal her own plan. Honestly, why would you do that?"

"Because it's not my plan." She narrowed her eyes at him, looking at him almost murderous at his offending remark, "And I am the real Elizabeth."

"Never insult a woman, Doc." Raven rolled her eyes at him, "especially a queen."

"Yeah, got that thanks," he grumbled, "Ok," that had not been part of the plan, "So, backtracking a moment just to lend context to my earlier remarks."

"You've been told multiple times never to insult a woman. Especially a woman of power."

"My twin is dead in the forest." The queen continued, "I am accustomed to taking precautions." She showed them the dagger she had hidden beneath her skirt. "These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived rather than their own commander. The arrogance that typifies their kind."

"Zygons?" Clara frowned.

"Men," Raven corrected as the queen nodded.

"And you actually killed one of them?" Clara gasped, slightly impressed.

"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon. The future of my kingdom is imperilled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?"

"Well, I'm going to need my TARDIS," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It has been procured already."

"Ah."

"But first, my love, you have a promise to keep." The queen smiled.

"So much for the virgin queen," Raven smirked as the group stood the towers courtyard, the 10th Doctor marrying the queen with herself, Clara and the other two Doctors watching.

"Yeah, shut up." The 11th Doctor grumbled, grimacing at the kiss. He really needed to stop getting married to famous historical humans. Especially queens known for being unwed.

"I'll be right back," the 10th Doctor told the queen, rushing into his TARDIS that was parked nearby, the other two Doctors, Raven and Clara following.

"You've let this place go a bit." The Warrior remarked, looking around the coral room.

"Ah, it's his grunge phase." The Doctor waved off, moving to the console, "He grows out of it."

"Don't you listen to them." The 10th Doctor patted the console. When an alarm blared.

"Ow!" The 10th Doctor pouted as he got a shock from the console, "The desktop is glitching."

"Three of us from different time zones." The War Doctor remarked, "It's trying to compensate."

"Hey, look." The Doctor grinned, completely unconcerned by the glitching around them, "The round things."

"I love the round things." The 10th Doctor grinned.

"What are the round things?"

"No idea."

"They're the roundels," Raven answered, "storage compartments. Ooh, friction contrafibulator." She flicked a switch and the TARDIS stabilised on the current desktop theme, "there, stabilised."

"How…" the 10th Doctor stared.

"You're talking to the girl who turned the box into a paradox machine," She reminded him.

"Right…" he rubbed the back of his neck at that, "yes, sorry." He frowned, looking around the room in distaste, "You redecorated. I don't like it."

"Oh yeah?" The Doctor pouted, offended. "Oh, you never do. Listen, we're going to the National Gallery. The Zygons are underneath it."

"No, UNIT HQ." Clara quickly cut in, "They followed us there in the Black Archive." She frowned as all the men stared solemn.

"What's the black archive?" Raven looked between them.

"Where humans store the most dangerous alien artifices instead of destroying them," the Doctor told her.

"Yeah...that's not the worst thing," Clara winced, "the Zygons took Kate, and Osgood and that McGillop guy."

"Well then," the Doctor straightened his bow tie, "best we stop them." He and his other selves rushed to the console to try and hack into the archive, struggling to but managing to at least hack into the comms, listening to them speak.

"...destroy London?" Came through the static before clearing.

"To save the world," Kate replied to her own voice and they all knew just by the remark that was the real Kate, "yes, I would."

"You're bluffing." The Zygon-Kate scoffed.

"You really think so? Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. I am his daughter."

"Science leads, Kate." The Doctor called, managing to get his voice heard by the humans and Zygons, "Is that what you meant? Is that what your father meant?"

"Doctor?" Kate responded.

"Space-Time Telegraph, Kate. A gift from me to your father, hotline straight to the TARDIS. I know about the Black Archive and I know about the security protocol. Kate, please. Please tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid."

"I'm sorry, Doctor." She murmured, before speaking to one of the humans with her, "Switch it off."

"Not as sorry as you will be." The 10th Doctor called. "This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with."

"Kate, we're trying to bring the TARDIS in. Why can't we land?"

Kate ignored him, "I said, switch it off."

"Kate please," Raven pleaded, joining the men at the console, "please, don't do something you'll regret for the rest of your life's."

"The Tower of London, totally TARDIS-proof." The 10th Doctor moaned.

"How can they do that?" Clara shook her head.

"Alien technology plus human stupidity." The Doctor tutted, "Trust me, it's unbeatable"

"Well then couldn't we just land nearby?"

"We don't need to land." The War Doctor murmured, spotting the stasis cube on the console.

"Yeah, we do." The 10th Doctor countered, "A tiny bit. Try and keep up."

"No, we don't." Raven agreed, catching onto what the Warrior had realised, "We don't. There is another way." She took the stasis cube and tossed it in her hands, the Doctors realising exactly how they could get through, "Cup-a-soup."

"What is cup-a-soup?" the Warrior sighed.

"Never mind that!" The Doctor called, inputting another command, a plan forming as he dialled, flicking the speakers on for them all to listen.

"McGillop," the voice of the man who had been in the under gallery with them earlier, the man standing before the Gallifrey Falls/ No More painting, spoke.

"Take a look at your phone and confirm who you're talking to." The Doctor told him quickly.

"But that's not possible. I was just..."

"You were just talking to me. I know. I'm a time traveller, figure it out. I need you to send the Gallifrey Falls painting to the Black Archive. Understood?"

"Understood, sir. But why would I take it there?"

"You'll see!" The Doctor grinned.

The TARDIS flew out of the Gallifrey Fall/ No More painting moments after a Dalek smashed through the glass as it imploded. It landed to the side of the room and the doors flew open, the 3 Doctors stepping out followed by Clara and Raven, who shut the door behind her.

"Hello." The War Doctor smiled at the humans and Zygons in the room. Two sets of Kates, Osgoods and McGillops standing on either side of a table, a countdown ticking away between them.

"I'm the Doctor." The 10th Doctor greeted.

"Sorry about the Dalek." The Doctor waved his hand from the smoke of the Dalek they had blasted out of the paining.

"Also the showing off." Clara scoffed lightly.

"And the melodramatic entrance." Raven added, her hands deep in her pockets as her gaze fell on the expired Dalek. She hadn't really dealt with them. Not since the war and even then it had been early days. River had spoken about them often. How she had made one beg for mercy when the universe imploded. That was an odd day.

"Kate Lethbridge Stewart," the Doctor stalked over to the woman, "what in the name of sanity are you doing?"

"The countdown can only be halted at my personal command." She told him, "There's nothing you can do."

"Except make you both agree to halt it." The 10th Doctor remarked.

"Not even three of you." Kate shook her head.

"And that's gonna make him try harder," Raven commented.

"You're about to murder millions of people." The 10th Doctor continued.

The War Doctor frowned at her. At how easy she was making her decision.

"To save billions. How many times have you made that calculation?"

"Once." The Doctor stated, "Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not even sure who that is any more."

"You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie." The 10th Doctor added, "Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong."

"And, because I got it wrong, I'm going to make you get it right."

"How?" they could guess that she was the real Kate speaking.

"Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown. Both of you, together."

"Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time."

"Safeguards all round, completely fair on both sides."

"And the key to perfect negotiation?" the Doctor grinned.

"Not knowing what side you're on." The 10th Doctor smirked.

"So, for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out…"

"No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human…"

"Or Zygon."

"Whoops a daisy." The Doctor laughed as he and the 10th Doctor jumped on the table, pulling out the sonics and flashing the memory filters on the ceilings, the Warrior helping from the side.

The humans (save Clara, as there was only one of her) glanced at each other, trying to work out who was who…

Until the countdown counted past 7 seconds.

"Cancel the detonation!" both Kates shouted.

"Peace in our time." The Doctor smiled as the countdown stopped with 5 seconds to spare.

"Wow…" Clara whistled, impressed.

"That was pretty brilliant." Raven even had to admit.

He grinned at her, "you might even say spectacular!"

"No." she shook her head.

He pouted.

Raven folded her arms as she stood before a board showing the previous companions. The Doctors where with the humans and Zygons negotiating peace. Well, the Doctors minus the War Doctor, as he sat in an armchair, out of the way looking rather grim. She had planned to go and speak with him herself but then she saw Clara move to and so left the woman to him. She knew he hadn't done it yet, used the Moment to Time Lock Gallifrey. Ended the war once and for all.

It was obvious with how he acted when they brought it up.

"Doctor!" she jumped as Clara came rushing over, like on over excited puppy, "he's gone! He just…disappeared!"

"I didn't stick around very long once I used the Moment." The 10th Doctor sighed.

"You're so stupid!" Raven scoffed, "he clearly hasn't done it yet." Clara nodded besides her, "the way he acted…his questions…he's about to do it."

"What?" the men stared at her before at each other and ran into their own TARDISes Raven and Clara following into theirs. The 11th Doctors TARDIS, having been brought down as requested by Kate, to rest with the others.

The Warrior stared in shock as he stood in an old barn before the Moment as two blue TARDIS's materialised with the two Doctors stepping out, with the two females following out of the left.

"See," Raven hissed to the Doctor, seeing the Warrior standing before the Moment, the intricate box sitting on an old box, "I told you!"

"Go away now, all of you." He muttered, turning his back on them, "This is for me."

"These events should be time-locked." The 10th Doctor remarked, ignoring his previous self and instead walking closer, "We shouldn't even be here."

"So something let us through." The Doctor reasoned.

"Go back." The Warrior pleaded, "Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile."

"All those years, burying you in my memory." The 10th Doctor continued.

"Pretending you didn't exist." The Doctor added, "Keeping you a secret, even from myself."

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else."

"You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right."

"But this time." The 10th Doctor joined him.

"You don't have to do it alone." The Doctor finished standing with them, both of them setting their hands on the button.

"Thank you." The Warrior whispered as the three men stood with their hands on the button.

"What we do today is not out of fear or hatred." The 10th Doctor sighed, "It is done because there is no other way."

"And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save." The Doctor added.

"So…not feeling like a god then." Raven joked weakly, "sorry," she winced as the three men looked at her, hands ready to destroy everything, "there's a time and a place…actually. That should never have been said." She shook her head as the room darkened.

A projection showed around the room. Gallifrey on its final days. Everyone running around, the children…

"These are the people you're going to burn…" Raven whispered. Everyone she had ever known. Her family…friends…old classmates. All of them gone in an instant from the push of a button.

"There isn't anything we can do." The 10th Doctor shook his head.

"He's right." The Doctor nodded, solemn, "There isn't another way. There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn."

"Look at you." Clara swallowed, "The three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you." She nodded to them in turn, settling on her Doctor.

"And what am I?"

"Have you really forgotten?"

"Yes. Maybe, yes."

"We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero."

"Then what do I do?"

You're exactly what the universe needs," Raven murmured, thinking back to what her father had said when he was elected Prime Minister, "what the universe needs is a Doctor." Oh how the same sentence could have two completely different meanings.

"You told me the name you chose was a promise." Clara continued gently, "What was the promise?"

"Never cruel or cowardly." The 10th Doctor mumbled.

"Never give up, never give in." the Warrior sighed.

The 10th Doctor ran a hand through his hair, catching his future self's expression, "You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?"

"My family's alive on that planet, right this second. Oh god…" Raven breathed, realising that they were! Right now, there was the chance her father was still alive after he had been taken back with the Time Lords at Naismith Mansion. There was a slim chance.

The Doctor looked at Raven, how she realised that her family was alive, how he was about to burn them. If they went through with this is would officially be an orphan in his care.

"We change history all the time." He shrugged, "I'm suggesting far worse."

"What, exactly?" the Warrior frowned.

"Gentlemen, I have had 400 years to think about this. I've changed my mind." He flicked his sonic at the Moment, the big red button sliding back into the box.

"There's still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking!" the Warrior cried.

"Yeah, there is." He agreed, "There is."

"But there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know!" The 10h Doctor realised.

"Because if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements."

"This time, there's three of you!" Clara gasped, realising exactly that.

"Three Doctors is enough to scare anyone!" Raven smirked.

"I'm not sure how to take that." The Doctor admitted.

"Good."

"Oh!" the Warrior eyes widened, "Oh, yes that is good. That is brilliant!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" the 10th Doctor cheered, "I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!"

"I've been thinking about it for centuries!" The 11th Doctor laughed.

"She didn't just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see" the Warrior beamed.

"Who did?" Clara blinked.

"Oh Melody Pond, I could kiss you!"

"I'm sorry?" Raven tensed, at that, both she and the 11th Doctor sharing a glance. "Woman with large and curly hair?"

"Oh, yeah" he turned sheepish, "the um, interface…"

"Why would it choose River?" she shook her head at them

The Doctor could only shrug, "we both cared for her. Both here at this exact moment." It sort of made sense to use River. River was someone who knew both him and Raven. She was someone who know a lot more than she ever said. It was fitting, River had just enough Time Lord DNA to know their names. It was fair she could also help them save Gallifrey.

"So what are we doing?" Clara cut in. She knew River was a bit touchy for them both. She had met Raven after the woman's death. The woman have been there and saved the Doctor, while also saving Raven. "What's the plan?"

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey," the Warrior explained, "firing on it constantly."

"The Sky Trench is holding," the 10th Doctor added, "but what if the whole planet just disappeared?

"Tiny bit of an ask?" Clara frowned.

"The Daleks would be firing on each other." Raven told her, "They'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire!"

"Gallifrey would be gone," the Warrior added, "the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other."

"But where would Gallifrey be?" Clara shook her head.

"Frozen." 10 grinned, "Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away."

"Exactly." The 11th Doctor snapped his fingers.

"Like a painting." The Warrior nodded.

"And everyone on the planet would be completely alive!" Raven finished, breathless.

The Doctor stood in his TARDIS with Raven and Clara leaving the 10th Doctor and War Doctor by themselves in their own TARDISes as they contacted Gallifrey High Command.

"And you're sure the message is from him?" A voice spoke as they hacked in, listening in, just a little more to get video feed.

"Oh, yes." Another responded.

"Why would he do that?" The General shook his head at the changed message 'No more' had been changed to 'Gallifrey Stands', "What's the mad fool talking about now?"

"Got it!" Raven cheered, sliding the monitor around to the Doctor flicking a switch as the General and another Time Lord appeared on the screen.

"Hello, hello," the Doctor greeted, "Gallifrey High Command, this is the Doctor speaking."

"And me!" Raven slid into the screen, smirking as their eyes widened terrified of a future Doctor but also the Masters daughter with him at the end of days, "the Raven. Boo!"

"Oi! I'm here too!" Clara crossed her arms, peeking into the screen behind them, "Hello! Clara Oswald!" She waved.

"Hello! Also the Doctor." The 10th Doctor called, appearing on screen in his own TARDIS, "Can you hear me?"

"Also the Doctor, standing ready." The Warrior appeared.

"Dear God, three of them." The General stared in horror, "All my worst nightmares at once."

"General, we have a plan." The 10th Doctor said.

"We should point at this moment, it is a fairly terrible plan," the Doctor admitted.

"And almost certainly won't work."

"That's not helping," Raven hissed.

"Sorry, kid, just thinking out loud."

"I'm not a kid, Doctor."

"No." he agreed.

"Anyway!" the 11th Doctor cut in, ""We're flying our three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere."

"We're positioned at equidistant intervals around the globe." The 10th Doctor smiled, "Equidistant. So grown up."

"We're just about ready to do it." The Warrior reported.

"Ready to do what?" The General shook his head.

"We're going to freeze Gallifrey." The 10th Doctor stated.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"We're going to freeze Gallifrey," Raven repeated.

"Using our TARDISes," the 10th Doctor nodded, "we're going to freeze Gallifrey in a single moment in time."

"You know, like those stasis cubes?" the War Doctor continued, "A single moment in time, held in a parallel pocket universe."

"Except we're going to do it to a whole planet." The Doctor explained.

"And all the people on it!" Raven added.

"What?" The General shook his head at them, "Even if that were possible...Which it isn't, why would you do such a thing?"

"Because the alternative is burning." The Doctor said, solemn.

"And I've seen that." The 10th Doctor swallowed.

"And I never want to see it again."

"We'd be lost in another universe," the General argued, "frozen in a single moment. We'd have nothing."

"Hope." Raven stated, "That's what you'll have, which is more than you have now."

"It's delusional. The calculations alone would take hundreds of years."

"Oh, hundreds and hundreds." The Doctor Agreed.

"But don't worry," the 10th Doctor smirked, "I started a very long time ago."

The Generals eyes widened as more Doctors appeared in monitors before him.

"Calling the War Council of Gallifrey," the 1st Doctor spoke, "This is the Doctor."

"You might say I've been doing this all my lives." The current Doctor laughed.

"Good luck." The 2nd Doctor appeared.

"Standing by." The 3rd called.

"Ready." The 4th Doctor nodded.

"Commencing calculations." The 8th reported.

"Soon be there." The 5th Doctor added.

Then the 7th came, "Across the boundaries that divide one universe from another."

"Just got to lock on to his coordinates." The 6th mumbled.

"And for my next trick." The 9th called.

"I didn't know when I was well off." The General grumbled as he stared at all of the Doctors, "All 12 of them!"

"No, sir." The man next to him argued as a pair of grey eyebrows appeared on the monitor, "All 13! Sir! The Daleks know that something is happening. They're increasing their fire power."

"Do it, Doctor." The General nodded, this was their only hope of surviving, "Just do it."

"Ok," the Doctor took a breath, "Gentlemen, ladies, we're ready. Geronimo!" He grinned, pulling a lever.

"Allons-y!" The 10th Doctor exclaimed, pulling his own lever.

"Oh, for God's sake." The War Doctor cried, "Gallifrey stands!" And pulled his own.

There was a bright light as the TARDISes rushed towards the planet, the entire thing disappearing...the Daleks destroying themselves...

Raven gulped her tea as the group stood around in the under gallery before the Gallifrey Falls painting, the three TARDISes parked against the wall as the enjoyed the tea after a job well done…only to quickly spit it out again. Nope! She didn't like Earl Grey. She only liked flavoured teas. She really needed to remember that. At least nowadays it didn't mean the boiling hot tea got poured over someone's head.

"I don't suppose we'll know if we actually succeeded." The War Doctor sighed. "But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

"Life and soul, you are." Clara chuckled.

"What is it actually called?" The 10th Doctor frowned at the painting.

"Well, there's some debate." The Doctor eyed it, "Either No More or Gallifrey Falls."

"Not very encouraging." The Warrior muttered.

"How did it even get here?" Raven shook her head.

"No idea." The Doctor admitted.

"There's always something we don't know, isn't there?" The 10th Doctor sighed.

"One should certainly hope so." The War Doctor agreed, setting his empty mug down, "Well, gentlemen, it has been an honour and a privilege."

"Likewise." The 10th Doctor nodded.

"Doctor." The Doctor smiled.

"And if I turn to be half the man that you are, Clara Oswald, I shall be happy indeed." He turned to shake the woman's hand.

"That's right." She smiled, returning the shake, "Aim high."

"And my dear, Raven," he turned to the girl, "I look forwards to see you in my future."

"Yeah…" she swallowed, trying not to give anything away, "I…it was different." She eventually offered. The other two Doctors sharing a glance.

"I won't remember this, will I?" He glanced at his future selves.

The Doctor shook his head, "The time streams are out of sync. You can't retain it, no."

"So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you." He smiled and turned to the three TARDISes, "Which one is mine? Ha!" He laughed, entering the shabbiest of the three and dematerialised.

The 10th Doctor sighed as he stood up, "I won't remember either, so you might as well tell me."

"Tell you what?" The Doctor sipped his tea.

"Where it is we're going that you don't want to talk about."

"I saw Trenzalore, where we're buried. We die in battle among millions."

"That's not how it's supposed to be." The 10th Doctor frowned.

"That's how the story ends. Nothing we can do about it." He shrugged, "Trenzalore is where you're going."

"Oh, never say nothing. Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands. Keep a tight hold on it, Clara." He took her hand, kissing the back of it.

"On it." She nodded.

"And you," he pointed at his future self, "look after her." he pointed at Raven, "She needs it."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Raven muttered, "Truly, I am very sorry about what I did." And what was still to come for him.

He waved her off. She was just doing what her daddy said to save herself. He could see she was feeling guilty and dealing with it, she didn't need a rant from him to add to that, "Trenzalore." He sighed turning to his TARDIS, "We need a new destination, because I don't want to go." He entered his TARDIS and he too dematerialised.

"He always says that." The Doctor remarked.

"Need a moment alone with your painting?" Clara guessed, smiling at the man.

"How did you know?" He smiled back at her.

"Those big sad eyes." She smiled sadly getting up to leave them in peace, "I always know. Oh, by the way, there was an old man looking for you. I think it was the curator." She added before disappearing inside the console.

"I'll just…" Raven moved to follow.

"Stay." The Doctor called patting the space next to him.

She sighed but joined him, the pair sitting in silence as they looked at the painting. "I never asked," she murmured.

"Asked what?"

"If my father was alive. I… I didn't even think to ask if he was alive. I didn't think about him at all."

"Well…we were pretty busy saving the planet."

"I suppose." She nodded.

"I could be a curator, couldn't I?" He mused. "I'd be great at curating. I'd be the Great Curator. I could retire and do that. I could retire and be the curator of this place."

"You know, I really think you might." A voice called and they looked over to see the man himself, an older version of this 4th self, leaning on a walking stick.

"I never forget a face." The Doctor smiled.

"I know you don't. And in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few. But just the old favourites, eh?" He winked, "You were curious about this painting, I think. I acquired it in remarkable circumstances. What do you make of the title?"

"Which title?" The Doctor frowned, "There's two. No More or Gallifrey Falls."

"Huh...Gallifrey Falls...No More." Raven remarked softly.

The Curator chuckled, pointing at her with his stick, "There it is. It's just one title. Gallifrey Falls No More. Now, what would you think that means, eh?"

"That Gallifrey didn't fall." He grinned at the hope, "It worked. It's still out there."

"I'm only a humble curator. I'm sure I wouldn't know."

"Then where is it?" Raven frowned at him.

"Where is it indeed?" He hummed, "Lost. Perhaps. Things do get lost, you know. And now you must excuse me. Oh, you have a lot to do."

"We do?"

"Is that what we're supposed to do now?" The Doctor asked. "Go looking for Gallifrey?"

"Oh, it's entirely up to you." The Curator remarked, "Your choice, eh? I can only tell you what I would do if I were you. Oh, if I were you. Oh, perhaps I was you, of course. Or perhaps you are me. Congratulations."

"Thank you very much."

"Or perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Who knows, eh? Who knows?" He winked heading off, leaving the Doctor beaming at the hope of finding Gallifrey.

"Come on!" the Doctor grinned, pulling her up and rushing into the TARDIS

_Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. Of course I dream, I tell her. Everybody dreams. But what do you dream about, she'll ask. The same thing everybody dreams about, I tell her. I dream about where I'm going. She always laughs at that. But you're not going anywhere, you're just wondering about. Not any more, I countered. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. Its taken me so many years, so many life times, but at last I know where I'm going. Where I've always been going._

_Home. _

_The long way round._

_And this time, im taking Raven with me._

**_A/N: Thanks everyone for your favourites, follows and reviews, it really encourages me to post the next chapter._**


	3. The time of the Doctor

_'Once, there was a planet, much like any other, and unimportant. This planet sent the universe a message. A bell tolling among the stars, ringing out to all the dark corners of creation. And everybody came to see. Although no one understood the message, everyone who heard it found themselves afraid. Except them. The one's who stayed for Christmas.'_

Raven sighed as she pressed a button on the console and the Doctor appeared in a flash of light, a clock over his shoulders, face scrunched as he stood in the defence position, a Dalek eyestalk held before him, "Dalek ship?" She guessed.

The Doctor peeked an eye open at her voice and relaxed now he was back safely on the TARDIS and not on the Dalek ship. It probably wasn't the best idea to go hoping from ship to ship with random bits of different aliens but he and Raven had been trying to figure out the mysterious beeping that was calling across the universe, well mostly him and Raven just tagged along for the ride. It must be serious for everyone to gather around especially since the TARDIS couldn't translate it.

"Every ship I go on, they just shoot at me." He huffed, dropping his clock and moving closer to the console and speaking to the head of the Cyberman head they had attached to the console, reprogrammed, "Handles, I said, put me on a ship. I didn't say, put me on a Dalek ship. Don't put me on a Dalek ship when I'm holding a broken bit of Dalek!" He snapped, whacking the head with the eyestalk

"You did not indicate a preference." Handles, the Cyberhead, stated.

"Use your head." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"You are aware the he is just sending you to the ship of whatever alien you're holding, right?" Raven eyed him, her back against the console, it probably wasn't the safest position in case she got a shock, but the TARDIS hadn't attacked her for the past few days so she hoped she didn't have quite a big grudge as they assumed, or maybe she just knew her thief was in danger and right now Raven was actually watching out for him and his stupidity.

"What?" He looked at her.

"You hold a Slitheen hand, you end up on a Slitheen ship, you hold a Dalek eyestalk you end up on a Dalek ship. Because you're not indicating a preference, Handles is assessing whatever species you're holding and sending you to THAT ship."

"No, he isn't." He laughed her off.

"You went on a Sontaran ship with a Sontaran gun," she deadpanned.

"Ok..." He nodded slowly, realising that now, he'd have to work on that, "They're all here." He spun the monitor to them, "Daleks, Sontarans, Terileptils, Slitheen. And they're not even fighting, they're just parked. Why?"

"The message was received throughout the universe." Handles stated.

"Yes, yes, the message, the message. Even I can't translate it. I mean, why is everyone here if they don't understand it?"

"You're here."

"Well, you know, I'm OCD." He shrugged, "and Raven just got dragged along." He flashed her an apologetic smile.

"It is strange when none of them are fighting," she agreed. Right now it was peaceful, despite the fact that anyone of them could suddenly attack and they'd have no idea why.

"But what's their excuse?" The Doctor shook his head, "What does this message mean?"

"Why isn't it translating?" Raven murmured, the TARDIS was naturally supposed to translate everything except Gallifreyan, but if the message was Gallifeyan they'd be able to understand their own native tongue. Of course this TARDIS couldn't translate everything having been broken so much. The Judoon now had to assimilate them speaking English to understand them. But the old girl had been so damaged over the years that some languages she could no longer translate. But this seemed something more than just a broken circuit.

"Oh, no." The Doctor groaned as the phone began to ring, "And remind me I've got to patch the telephone back through the console unit. This is getting ridiculous."

"Attention." Handles called as the Doctor paused from going to answer it to look at the head, "Information available."

"Ok?"

"You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit."

"No, no. No, no, no, no. No, not now. Remind me later."

"When?"

"I don't know." He huffed, growing more and more irritated with the head, "Just later. Just pick a time."

"When?"

"I don't know. Just any old time. When you think I've forgotten."

"When?"

"Just pick a random number," he sighed, rubbing his head, "express that number as a quantity of minutes, and when that time has elapsed, remind me to patch the telephone back through the console unit."

"Affirmative."

"How those Cyber-evenings must fly." The Doctor muttered turning back to the phone only to see Raven had moved to answer for him.

"Hello, the TARDIS," Raven greeted.

"Emergency." Clara shouted, sounding frantic, "I need you to come to mine for Christmas."

She blinked, "why?"

"I may have accidentally told my aunt Linda that I privately tutor a kid in care and she'd be coming for Christmas diner."

"Why?"

"I panicked! She kept nagging me about the job at the school and so I said I privately Tudor a foster kid on the side."

"I'm not a child, Clara Oswald."

"I know that! You're older than me and smarter than me..."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Please, Raven! It's just that you look young. Please!" Clara begged. "Oh, shoot!" Raven winced as the fire alarm beeped in Clara's apartment, "Can you please just come!"

"What would I get in return?" She wondered innocently.

"I'll do anything! Please."

"Handles, that's a new ship," the Doctors excited voice reached her ears and she doubted he even remembered the phone had been ringing, "Ok, we'll take the TARDIS this time."

"I'll hold you to that."

"I just need you to come for Christmas dinner." Clara continued, "Just do that for me. Come to Christmas dinner and show my aunt I am capable of something."

"Raven!" The Doctor cheered, running outside with Handles, "there's a new ship!"

"So will you come?" Clara called.

"Er..." Raven glanced outside to the Cybership they had landed on, the Cyberhead in his hands, "we may be a few minutes," she winced seeing the Cybermen approaching, "the Doctor just walked into a Cybership with a Cyberhead."

"But you'll come?" Clara latched onto the fact she didn't say no.

Raven moved to the side as the Doctor ran back inside, narrowly missing the Cybermen fires as she slammed the door shut, panting, "I suppose so." It was far safer than what the Doctor was currently up too, and with all those ships he still hadn't gotten to yet, he may just end up dragging her with him.

~.~

"Thank god you came!" Clara barged into the TARDIS only to stop dead seeing Raven with her back to the console, purposely facing the doors, "Er...what's going on?"

Raven just mutely pointed to the other side of the console where the Doctor jumped up, stark naked. "Clara!" He cheered, arms up in excitement.

"No, stop, stop, don't move." She ordered turning around and covering her eyes, "Don't do anything."

"Why?" He frowned between them, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You're naked." Raven stated bluntly, he wasn't naked to her, no, thankfully he had linked a set of holographic clothes to her visual cortex and so she could see his clothes. But poor Clara...she could see every inch of the Doctor right now.

Ew. Just ew.

"Yes, I am naked." The Doctor nodded.

"Doctor, why are you naked?" Clara asked him.

"Because I'm going to church." He informed.

When even talking to the church the person had to be naked, to show that what they were asking was genuine, that they had nothing to hide.

"You have to be naked," Raven explained to her as she continued to look disgusted that the Doctor was naked, "when talking to them."

"But you've finished talking now." Clara reminded.

"And now it's 2 vs 1," Raven called, "put some damn clothes on."

This just reminded her of the Valiant, when the Master had aged the Doctor so far in his future that he had shrunken so much that his suit didn't fit. She had been nice enough to make him one that fitted. And the Master hadn't complained, merely complimenting her sewing skills. She shook her head. That was in the past.

Once he had been done with the call she had asked him to put some clothes on as they headed to Clara's but he refused. Said he was comfortable but he had at least projected clothes for her.

He huffed but called, "better?"

Clara hesitantly peeked to see he was back in his usual suit, "Oh, that was quick."

"Hologram clothes, projected directly onto your visual cortex."

"So you're still naked underneath?" She grimaced.

"Everybody's naked underneath."

"Urgh, don't say things like that. It's Christmas. Come on," Clara tugged Raven hand, "come and meet my family."

"I'm not promising anything," she grumbled as she allowed Clara to drag her off.

~.~

"Hello!" Clara grinned as she led the Time Lords in the main room of her apartment where he dad, grandmother and aunt Linda sat around the table, "so, this," she placed her hands on Raven's shoulders, probably a little firmer that she should, but that was just nerves. "This is Raven...Saxon." She added hesitantly. She knew Raven didn't like using that name since her dad had apparently been Prime Minister (she didn't question about that. Not wanting to.) But she knew Raven would hate to use Smith. And so it was just easier.

"Pleasure," she gave a grimace of a smile.

"And, er, her personal carer, John Smith."

"Just call me the Doctor," he beamed shaking aunt Linda's hand, "merry Christmas!" And offered her grandmother tow Gaelic kisses, "hello handsome," and smiled at Clara's dad, he paused, waiting for their greeting as Clara's dad and aunt avoided looking at him while we gran looked on in delight, "Anyone for Twister?"

"Isn't anyone going to say hello?" Clara frowned at her family, silently preying the silence was just there shock that she had brought them round and not for any other reason.

"Hello." Her gran smiled at the Doctor as she set her empty wine glass down.

"Excuse us a moment." The Doctor grinned at them, huddling up with the two females, "Listen, I've got an idea to break the ice. Why don't I project my clothes hologram onto their visual cortexes too?"

"You're kidding?" Raven blinked. That explained the awkwardness. Clara's family could see him naked. Oh great.

Clara was very close to glaring at him for that, "are you saying only Raven and I can see your clothes?"

"Yes, and I'm starting to think it may be causing tension."

"Are we playing Twister now?" Her gran called.

"Get in the kitchen." Clara did glare as she shoved him out of the room, ushering Raven to follow, "Sorry. He's Swedish." She followed them into the kitchen as Raven turned down a boiling pan while the Doctor crouched before the oven with the turkey.

"Oh, that's never going to work, is it?" The Doctor frowned at the undercook bird.

"What's wrong?" Clara rushed over, "Do you think it's not done yet?"

"I think a decent vet would give it an even chance."

"How long has it been in the oven for?" Raven wondered.

"2 hours," Clara winced.

"And how long has the oven been on for?"

"30 minutes." It had only been when her family had arrived did she realise that she had forgotten to turn the oven on. The turkey had been sat doing nothing for 2 hours. "Well, just use an app."

"An app?" The Doctor looked at her.

"On your screwdriver. App it."

"Most certainly not. It doesn't do turkey. Nothing does turkey. You'd need a time machine." He trailed as Clara stared at him, "What?"

"We have a time machine," Raven sighed.

~.~

"This is not what TARDISes were grown for," Raven grumbled as she helped Clara carry the undercooked turkey, the humans wearing oven mitts as the tray was slightly warm. The TARDIS was going to blame her for this.

"You can't keep using the TARDIS like this." The Doctor agreed, even he knew this was going over the top.

"Like what?" Clara scoffed.

"Missed birthdays, restaurant bookings. And please, just learn how to use iPlayer." But he still led them down to the under console to help her cook the turkey.

"Ooo, vortex cooking?" Clara smiled at the prospect, setting the turkey in one of the panels.

"Yep, exposure to the time winds. It'll come up a treat." The Doctor smiled.

"Or just lay some eggs." Raven countered. That was the problem with vortex cooking, it would either cook the food or reverse it back to its alive state.

"Information available." Handles called from the console.

"What's that?" Clara gasped.

"Oh, just a bit of a Cyberman." The Doctor waved her off as he led them back up to the Cyberhead, "He'll get us to the church on time."

"I have developed a fault."

"The organics are all gone, but there's still a full set of data banks. Found it at the Maldovar market."

"Planet identified from analysis of message." The head reported.

"Right, cool." The Doctor nodded, "Go on then. Ok, tell us, what is the planet? Go on."

"Processing official designation. Processing."

"So why haven't you just gone down there and had a look?" Clara asked, looking at the monitor as it showed the alien ships gathering around the blue/grey planet below.

"It's shielded." Raven sighed, "Even the TARDIS can't break through it."

"Gallifrey." Handles stated.

"What did you say?" The Doctor breathed, looking at the head sharply.

"Gallifrey."

"What are you talking about? Gallifrey? What do you mean?"

"Confirmed. Planet designation, Gallifrey."

The Doctors eyes narrowed at that as he picked the head up and showed him the planet on the monitor, "You see that? Gallifrey is our home. I know it when I see it. That is not Gallifrey."

"Is he ok?" Clara asked Raven quietly, watching the Doctor closely, especially as he threw Handles back down, very roughly.

"Gallifrey is home." She whispered.

It was home. And that was that. It had been on their first night after seeing his previous selves, she had gone to sleep but had woken up for a drink only to find him racing around the console, imputing program after program for anything to give a clue where it could possibly be.

Nothing.

No matter how far the Doctor went, he couldn't find Gallifrey. The Doctor wanted prove that they had saved it, unable to cope with just having tried to save it, finding Gallifrey made it real. Gallifrey was home, and no matter how old, or tired, or even hated...everyone went home eventually.

"Unless...you saved it." She continued gently, "you thought you might have."

"But it's frozen in another universe. And Gallifrey is orange. That is not Gallifrey."

"That is not home." The Doctor sighed moving to the Doctors and looking down at the planet below, "It can't be." He whispered as they joined him, Raven leaning against the doors as she looked down.

The Doctor squeezed her shoulder as she looked at the planet that was NOT home only for a large ship to rise up before them, a black multi-storey building blasting its horn at them.

"What's that?" Clara stared at them ship.

"Papal Mainframe," the Doctor started to smile again, "It's like a great big flying church. The first ship to arrive. They are the ones who shielded the planet. They can get us down there." A large holographic face of a woman with black paint over her eyes like a band, appeared.

Clara watched as the Doctor bowed to it with Raven dropping into a curtsy. "A friend of yours?"

"Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious." The Doctor explained as the hologram raised a beckoning finger, "Oh, she's inviting us aboard."

"Why?"

"Because I asked her. Swallow this." He pulled out two small white pills from his pocket, handing one to Clara and the other to Raven.

"What is it?" She eyed it.

"Your hologram projector. You can't go to church with your clothes on." He rushed over to the console as Raven swallowed her pill, Clara shrugging and doing the same, if Raven could swallow it, it couldn't be that bad.

~.~

"Everyone is staring," Raven stated bluntly as they walked down the red carpet of the papal mainframe, in hologram clothes that the church were trained to see through. Everyone could clearly see her, no hiding by her hood today.

"And we're not technically wearing anything," Clara grumbled.

"I know," the Doctor grinned, perfectly at ease, "Relaxing, isn't it?"

"What is this place anyway?"

"The Church of the Papal Mainframe, security hub of the known universe."

"A security church?"

"Yep. Keeping you safe in this world and the next. I venerate the exaltation of the Mother Superious." He dropped into a bow as they approached the woman at the end of the aisle as Raven dropped into a curtsy of her own. Oh, she didn't done that since her time as the Prime Ministers daughter and they had met the queen. Clara dropped into her own curtsy besides her.

One of the men besides Tasha Lem nodded at their greeting, "Welcome to the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Your nudity is appreciated."

"Hey, babe." Tasha winked at him.

"Tasha Lem, this is...and old family friend," He introduced, yes, that worked, "Raven. And my companion Clara Oswald."

"Mother superior," Raven bowed her head to the woman.

"Hello," Clara offered.

Tasha nodded to them before focusing on the Doctor, "Is that a new body? Give us a twirl."

"This old thing?" He shrugged modestly, "Please, I've been rocking it for centuries." But he still gave her a twirl.

She smirked at him, "We'll go to my chapel. All honours in place, no sacrifices required."

"Sacrifices?" Clara eyed widened as the woman led them off.

"It was Tasha who shielded the planet." The Doctor explained quietly as the followed the woman, "But you could sneak us down there, couldn't you, Tash?" He smirked at her.

"I would have conditions." She turned to him as they stopped before a large set of double doors, taking up nearly the whole wall.

"That's not a no," Raven pointed out.

"I have confidential matters to discuss with the Doctor." He told them, looking between the two females, "Would you excuse us?"

"Ah no," the Doctor cut in at that, "Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Raven." He gave a firm nod at that before adding, "and Clara," and frowned, "Well, quite a lot of it. Probably about half. Maybe a smidge under. Actually, Clara, would you mind waiting out here, please? But, Raven, yes..."

"I'm fine to wait out here with Clara," Raven stepped further away from the doors and towards Clara, "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" He frowned at her.

Tasha smiled as the girl nodded, "shall we?" She opened the doors as the Doctor followed after her.

"Boss of the psycho space nuns," Clara laughed as the door shut behind them, "so his type."

"If you say so..." Raven shrugged.

"Oh come on..."She trailed, noticing something behind Raven. "What is that?"

"What's what?" Raven glanced behind her to see an empty space and back to Clara.

"Sorry what?" The woman shook her head.

"You were pointing at something." Raven accused.

"No I wasn't I was just saying that Tasha..." Only to blink and point again, "that."

"What?" Raven turned again only to see something in a black suits, pale with long fingers, mouthless with small eyes. "You..." she breathed, her fists clenching.

"I saw you..." Clara murmured, eying it, "and then I forgot. How does that work?"

"A Silent," Raven explained. "Clara, open the doors."

"Yeah," she nodded turning to open them and forgetting why, "what?"

"Can you open the door, Clara?"

"Er, why?" But did so anyway as Raven walked backwards into her, shutting the doors and blinking.

"Raven?" The Doctor hurried to her side, "what is it?"

"Um," she blinked, "I...I don't...remember..."

"Raven told me to open the doors." Clara added.

"I...um...sorry." she offered to Tasha Lem.

The Doctor scanned her eyes, her hands cupping her cheeks, glancing to the doors and to Tasha who lifted her chin up, silently telling him she wouldn't answer his question. He sighed knowing that there had been a Silent out there and they'd forgotten it.

"About letting us down?" He turned back to the woman.

She gave a curt nod as she moved to two curtained booths with a control panel of domes pet between them, "This is my personal teleport. I can put you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour. And on your life, Doctor, you will cause no trouble down there."

"When do I?" He scoffed, entering one of the booths as Clara followed Raven into the other, the Doctor poked his head back out hearing Clara scoffing, "Don't answer that." And pulled the curtain back only for Tasha to pull it back, a hand out expectantly.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot. Everyone in this church is trained to see straight through holograms."

"Ah. Great." Clara grumbled, despite having been told already. A part of her had hoped they wouldn't see her stark naked.

"Give now. You are taking no technology of any kind down there."

"What can I do with a key?" He rolled his eyes.

"You could summon your TARDIS."

"The TARDIS doesn't work by remote. Fine." He dropped the key in her hand, "If it makes you feel any better, there we are."

She nodded moving to the teleport controls, "Remember. I want you back in one hour."

A flash of light and the trio found themselves standing on the snowy ground of the planet.

"Oh, cold." Clara was instantly shivering, hugging herself as the snow fell, "Very cold."

"You're technically naked in the snow," Raven deadpanned.

"Oh, that'll be it." She hissed, rubbing her arms to keep her blood pumping.

"There's a heat loss filter in your hologram shell." The Doctor explained, "It'll kick in, just give it a moment. So, sweet little town covered in snow, half the universe in terror. Why?"

"Oh, my God!" The woman suddenly gasped, pointing to an arm sticking out in the snow, "There's something under the snow. It's..."

"It's what?" Raven asked, glancing down at the town below the hill.

"It's cold."

The Doctor spun to see what she was looking at to see a stone arm peeking out, of course, "Ok, just stand back please, Clara."

"It's stone." She touched the arm, "It's just stone. It's only a statue."

"Clara, step away from it!" He shouted, tugging her away only for the arm to grasp her ankle. "Clara, keep looking at it. Don't look away. Don't even blink!"

"Is that a Weeping Angel?" Raven breathed, locking her eyes on it.

"Know of them?" He asked as he tried to pull Clara free.

"River." She shrugged, standing back as he tried to get Clara free.

"It looks like a statue, isn't a statue. Can you get your foot out?

"Only if I get it out of my shoe." She grunted, twirling her foot.

"You're not wearing a shoe." Raven pointed it.

"Good point."

"Ok, Raven; eyes on the Angel," the Doctor instructed as he shifted his grip on Clara, "pull hard. 1, 2, 3!" He tugged hard on Clara as the girl pulled her foot out of the Angels grip, tumbling down the hill as more angels emerged out of the snow.

"They're climbing out of the snow!" Raven cried as she rushed down the hill to them as they scrambled to their feet, Angels surrounding them.

"Keep looking at them." The Doctor ordered as they formed a small circle, their backs to each other to try and look at them all, "At all of them."

"Why?" Clara gasped but tried not to blink.

"Quantum locked lifeform. It can only move if it's unobserved."

"What is it doing here?"

"Same as everybody else." He reasoned, "Must've got past Tasha's shield. Keep looking!" He cried as more Angels advanced.

"I can't." She tried to keep the snow off her eyelashes but it just kept coming, "I can't see. The snow's in my eyes."

"I just need to bring the TARDIS down."

"You said you can't fly it remotely."

"No, but it can home in on the key."

"But she took your key!"

"She took MY key!" He grinned as Raven pulled out her own TARDIS key hidden under her foot, holding it up as it began to flow golden before the TARDIS materialised around them and they were safe in the console room.

"Really?" Clara gaped.

"Bit of misdirection," the Doctor answered, "I knew Tasha would be expecting me to hide something, but she'd never expect either of you to go against the rules. Ok, I'm going to send us down near the source, engines on silent, don't want to cause a fuss," he pulled a lever.

"And while you do that I'm going to go get dressed," Raven turned and headed down the corridors to the wardrobe, Clara rushing to catch up. Not wanting to be naked any longer now that they didn't have to be. "And you Doctor!"

The Doctor sighed but followed them.

~.~

The TARDIS materialised in the town on a street that was lines with trees and street lamps that were still lit by fires, giving the town a Victorian feel to it.

"Oh, it's good to be wearing clothes again." Clara sighed in relief as they walked, "That's so much better, don't you think?"

But the Doctor was much too focused on scanning everyone to hear her, "what do we make of this place? It's two o'clock in the afternoon. Must be very short days here. The message is coming from that tower." He nodded to the clock tower in the middle of the town only for a middle aged couple to walk between the way, he shifted his arm to a wave, "Hello! Hello, there." He called, waving them over as they walked, "Right, we're a family from the next time over. Raven...you're my niece?" He looked at her as she nodded, "and Clara you can be..."

"My sister." Raven shrugged.

"Ooh, I'm honoured!" Clara grinned, slipping her arm into Ravens as they walked, the other girl rolling her eyes at the action.

"Right ok," he nodded slowly, "we're a family from the town next door, and we're just visiting for the day. My name's probably Hank or Rock, something like that."

"Or Daisy?" Clara suggested.

"Shut up." He glared, before putting in a smile as the couple approached, "Hello, good to meet you. Nice snow."

"Most pleasant to meet you too." The man smiled.

"Most pleasant." The woman agreed, "Most pleasant."

"I'm the Doctor." He began, "I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I stole a time machine and ran away from my family, something I've yet to forgive myself for and I've been flouting the principal law of my own people ever since." He clapped a hand over his mouth in shock at what he'd said, "That wasn't quite what I was meant to say!"

"Well, I'm Raven," the girl started before she couldn't stop herself, "I'm the daughter of Gallifrey's most infamous child. I helped him take on the Earth creating a Paradox machine to kill the human race, which I quickly realised was wrong. And have been keeping in the dark ever since. The only person knowing about me was a Human plus Time Lord hybrid called Melody Pond. Who was born to try and kill him..." She nodded to the Doctor, dropping the Cyberhead she been carrying, wincing as it landed on her feet, "ow..." But it got her to stop talking. She had no idea how she rambled that much. But yet it was all true.

"I'm an English teacher from planet Earth," Clara smiled, pleased she was now the normal one but quickly found herself rambling on, "and I've run off with a man from space because I really fancy the adrenaline rush..." She clasped a hand over her mouth.

"I think, perhaps, you should stop talking till you get used to it" the man chuckled at the three of them.

"Used to what?" The Doctor pulled his hand away from his mouth for just that question before covering it again.

"What did you say your name was?"

"Bubbly personality masking bossy control freak." Clara blurted out before Raven held her hand over the woman's mouth, before she said anything else she'd regret.

The Doctor opened his mouth but Raven put her other hand over his before he could speak, not daring to open her mouth herself, "No, ah, I see." He slowly lowered her hand, "Yes, of course. It's a truth field. Oh, that is so quaint. I haven't seen a truth field in years." He was getting the hang of the truth field before, "I destroy more lives than I save!"

"No one can lie in this town." The man explained, picking up the Cyberhead and brushing the dirt of as he handed it back to Raven, not even questioning it, "Especially this close to the tower." He pointed to the clock tower the Doctor had scanned before.

The Doctor eyed the tower as the couple continued on their walk before he spun and called after them, "Doesn't that make life a bit difficult?"

"Not at all." The woman chuckled softly, glancing back at them.

"Yes." The man nodded before they headed off.

"This town, what's it called."

"It's Christmas." The woman called.

The Doctor checked his watch, frowning, "It's July."

"No, the town. The town is Christmas. That's what it's called."

"Be happy here. Be well." The man smiled, as they left.

"How can a town be called Christmas?" Clara shook her head.

"I don't know. How can an island be called Easter," the Doctor countered, "Maybe it's just nice here. I almost hate to find out what's wrong."

"But yet you head straight to the tower," Raven huffed as the Doctor walked towards it, her and Clara having little choice but to follow as they entered the dark room, no lights at all, except for a crack in the wall, a crack very familiar to the Doctor. One that had been following him after he newly regenerated, using Amelia Pond to keep him interested before he restarted the universe.

"There you are." He crouched before it, "What took you so long?"

"What's wrong?" Clara frowned, "It's only a crack in the wall."

"I knew." He sighed, "I always knew it wasn't over."

"What is it?"

"A split in the skin of reality." He ran his hand along it. "A tiny sliver of the 26th of June, 2010. The day the universe blew up."

"Yes," Raven frowned, "River mentioned that."

"I rebooted it," he assured her, "put it all back together."

"After she made a Dalek beg for mercy because it shot you."

"Obviously." Clara snorted.

"Well, it was my TARDIS that blew it up in the first place. I felt a degree of responsibility. But the scar tissue remains. A structural weakness in the whole universe. Whoa! And someone's trying to get through it from outside our universe, from somewhere else. Of course. Of course. It makes sense."

"It does?" Raven raised an eyebrow. Only to him would something as random as a crack in space and time make sense.

"Yes. If you were trying to break through a wall, you'd choose the weakest spot. If you were trying to break into this universe, you'd choose this crack, because. No. If you were trying to break back into this universe."

"You said Gallifrey." Raven murmured, glancing at the head in her hands, "Why did you say Gallifrey?"

"Analysis of message composition indicates Gallifreyan origin, according to TARDIS databanks." It stated.

"You said Gallifrey was gone." Clara reminded softly.

"No. It was in another universe." He corrected, "The message is coming through here. The truth field is too, at a guess. If it's the Time Lords. If it's the Time Lords..." He paused a moment pulling out a large golden pendant, "Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey. Nicked it off your father in the Death Zone, Raven. There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure. Use it to decode the message." He set the seal on Handles forehead.

It's eyes lit up, "Message decoding. Message analysis proceeding. Information available. The message is a request for information."

"It's a question. Why can't you just say it's a question?" He huffed, tapping the head.

"It is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle."

"The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight."

"Warning. Translation will be available to all lifeforms in range. Translation follows; Doctor who? Doctor who?"

The Doctor sighed knowing that all his greatest enemies and foes where hearing the question above them.

"A question only a Time Lord could answer." The Doctor murmured, "A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place and that it's safe to come through."

"But it's not safe," Raven whispered. Once the Time Lords came through all those aliens above would attack. Right now the only thing stopping a war was the force field and once that broke...well, hopefully it would hold.

"So what then?" Clara asked, "If you answer the question and they come back, what happens?"

"Er," the Doctor pulled out a small round object and handed it to Clara, "you need to take this to the TARDIS and put it in the charger slot for the sonic."

"Why?" She frowned.

"Hell. All hell, that's what happens if the Time Lords come back. There's half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now please, go to the TARDIS and just do as I say."

"And this'll help?" Clara eyed the disc unaware of what it really was, a preset co-ordinates drive, programmed to take her home.

She just, she just wanted to help. Raven, especially, the girl had said that her family had still been alive when she escape with the Master. And maybe still even know they were all alive. That girl needed her family.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, watching solemnly as the human nodded and took of back to the TARDIS.

"Doctor!" They looked up hearing Tasha's voice booming above them from outside, "speak with me!"

"You alright?" The Doctor glanced at Raven in concern.

She glanced at the crack again, "just about."

They headed up the towers stairs to the top of the bell tower be greeted by Tasha's holographic face in the sky above the town, "Doctor! Face me now!"

"Jeez, let us at least get out first." Raven grumbled.

"Mother Superious," the Doctor spoke to her, "there is only one thing I need from you. This planet...what's it called?

"Trenzalore." She informed them, eying their disturbed expressions, "If you speak your name, the Time Lords will return."

"They'll come...they will come in peace," Raven insisted.

"It doesn't matter. They will be met with a war that will never end. The Time War will begin anew. You know that, Doctor."

"They're asking for our help!" He cried.

"And if you give it, war will be the consequence. I will not let that happen, at any cost. Speak your name and this world will burn."

"No," he shook his head, determined, "this planet is protected!" He flashed the sonic up, the hologram fading out as the Time Lords looked down at the TARDIS dematerialising.

"I quite liked Clara," Raven admitted, "for a human."

~.~

_'The days passed, and the years, the Doctor stayed true to his word. On the fields of Trenzalore, he stood as protector both of his own people and his new home. Over the years, his foes would find new, stranger ways to enter the town called Christmas.'_

Raven was more than shocked that when 300 years later the TARDIS returned to Christmas town. But not alone. She had come back years late because she had to extend the outer shell. Because Clara had decided to be an idiot and clung to the TARDIS doors as the box returned to them, causing the delay.

The small group we're currently gathered at the top of the tower, before a fire, roasting marshmallows under the stars.

Raven was silently thankful that Clara didn't seem angry that the Doctor had sent her away, at least not right now, but she could still end up bursting in anger.

300 years they had spent defending this town from the Doctors greatest enemies. Every so often they managed to think of new ways to sneak through the force field. Like the Cybermen had downgraded into wood. Sneaking in undetected at least until a group of children found them.

It had been easy to deal with that. Raven had thrown a lit match at it.

Easy peasy.

The children seemed very fond of drawing their defeats.

Unfortunately over the years they had also drawn the Doctor ageing.

The man had a bit of a limp now, needing a cane to walk. A few greys in his still floppy hair, along with some starting to form wrinkles.

And she hadn't aged a day.

They weren't really sure why he was ageing so quickly, sure, sometimes the first and last bodies did age quicker than the others. No one could ever figure out why, not everyone did, but those who did had nothing in common, just a lottery, but this time he was ageing far too fast, like he was on a time limit to answer the question.

But despite it all, the Doctor still seemed smug that in those 300 year she was still on her 1st regeneration. He had kept her safe and protected enough that she hadn't been killed. She had seemed to do well with saving her regeneration's. Her father had had multiple cycles in his life, and then there was the Doctor on his current, River had barely been 200 when she went to the library and had been on her 3rd and here she was, around about 1000 years old and still only on her 1st. It must be a record.

Handles the Cyberhead was with them too, nested for comfort. 300 years, it must be dying soon.

"How...how is everything?" Clara asked hesitantly.

"Well, it's a standoff." the Doctor shrugged, "They can't attack in case we unleash the Time Lords, and we can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas. Could've been worse."

Clara pulled back her stick, eating the toasted marshmallow. "Where did you get those?"

"I have a supplier." The Doctor smirked.

"I've tried to stop him getting the pink ones," Raven sighed, "too many E numbers."

"I have developed a fault." The head interrupted.

"Hey, don't you worry, Handles." The Doctor murmured to the dying head, "you're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon. You just hang on in there."

"I have developed a fault. I...I have developed a fault."

"Hey, Handles." He picked the head up as it began to static and fade out, "Come on. Come on. One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang on in there."

"Attention. Emergency. Attent..."

"Doctor," Raven called softly, moving a hand to his arm in comfort, "it's time..."

He nodded slowly, realising she was right as the head spoke it's last, "Urgent action required. You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit..." He trailed, his light dimming before fading out completely.

"Thank you, Handles, and well done." The Doctor sighed, setting the head to the side, "Well done, mate."

"Dawn!" Raven leapt to her feet, helping the Doctors to his, escorting him to the edge with Clara joining them at the railings, as the sun began to rise between the mountains in the distance, illuminating the town..."see?" She grinned at Clara, "beautiful." All those colours in the sky, it really was beautiful.

"What do you think of my new place?" The Doctor asked her, "we come up here once a day for a few minutes, to remind ourselves of what it is we're protecting."

"It's beautiful," Clara agreed, watching the sun rise before turning to them, "Why did you send me away?"

"Clara..." Raven sighed, "We're on the verge of war, enemies are sneaking in in different ways everyday, if you stayed...its been 300 years." The woman would have died over 250 years ago.

The Doctor added sadly, "You'd have gotten old. We'd have buried you a long time ago."

"No, you wouldn't." She argued, "I would never have let you get stuck here."

"Ha! Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends."

"Except you."

"Have you been paying attention? I'm an old man now."

"But you don't die. You change. You pop right back up with a new face."

"We can only change 12 times," Raven murmured, resting her head on the Doctors arm, "13 different bodies is all we have."

"13 silly Doctors." He chuckled sadly.

"Ok, so you're number 11," Clara shook her head, "so..."

"Forgetting granddad?" Raven smirked.

"I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration." The Doctor nodded.

"Ok, so you're number 12." Clara shrugged.

"Well, number 10 once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. 12 regenerations, Clara. I can't ever do it again."

"Couldn't you share some of yours?" Clara asked Raven.

"Oh…" she looked down at that. She had never even offered but the Doctor, once they realised that only he was ageing, but they weren't his to take and with the slim possibility that the Master was alive on the planet, the man would kill him for taking them from her. Selfish as it was, despite having plenty, she didn't want to share.

"I won't take them from her." the Doctor shook his head.

"What, training her to be your apprentice?" Clara scoffed, "think shes going to keep travelling in the TARDIS, being a doctor herself?"

Raven gave her a look at that, "no."

"Then what will you do, huh?" Clara asked, her anger was growing the more upset she got, "no Doctor, the TARDIS doesn't like you, your people will never come back. You'll be alone."

"Shut up." Raven glared at her, fists clenches. She didn't dare think about that, because what would she do? She had never been alone before, at first, she had had her dad, even if he had left her and gone human, and the Doctor had always bee around after he died. Sure, she had avoided him, but she knew she had never truly been the last of her kind.

"This is where I end up, Clara." the Doctor interrupted, the sternness in her voice making the human fall silent, "This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves, one of them mine."

"Change the future." Clara determined.

"I can't…"

"You've got your TARDIS back."

"Ha!" he chuckled lightly, "You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?"

"Of course not. But you've been protecting this town for over 300 years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?"

"It's just us, Clara." Raven shrugged, leaning on the railing as the sun began to set.

"There is no one else to protect it." The Doctor agreed.

"It's not going to be you for ever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do. This town will be destroyed whether it's now or after the both of you have eventually passed."

"Every life I save is a victory." The Doctor stated, thickly, "Every single one."

"What about your life?" Clara argued, "Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?" she winced at her words, "Sorry. Wrong thing to say. We shouldn't be having an argument."

"We've had this before." Raven smirked lightly, "we Time Lords are very stubborn."

"But you didn't have the TARDIS." Clara tried.

"Ah." The Doctor nodded, "Yes, well, that made it easier to stay. True."

They looked up hearing a rumbling in the darkened sky to see Tasha's holographic face staring down at them again, "Doctor! Raven."

"Look who's woken up!" the Doctor called to her.

"The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."

"We'll be right up."

"I'm sending a transporter."

"Nah, don't bother. I've got my motor back."

"It's gone dark." Clara commented as Tashas face disappeared again.

"Well, the sun has gone down." Raven remarked.

"Already?" she frowned. They said it was short days, she just didn't image quite this short. No wonder the Doctor had aged so much.

"Everything ends, Clara." The Doctor sighed, "And sooner than you think…"

~.~

The Doctor, Raven and Clara walked down the carpeted walkway of the Papal Mainframe, still fully clothes. The Doctor too old to care about their rules and regulations while Raven was simply more comfortable in clothes. They had left Christmas unprotected while here and were eager to get back. Leaving young Barnable waiting for their return.

"She hasn't aged much," Clara whispered, catching sight of the woman at the end of the aisle.

"No, she's against ageing." The Doctor sighed.

"Approach." Tasha ordered.

"Confess..." Raven glanced back to see the tall aliens in suits, peeking around between the people lining the aisle.

"What are those things?" Clara hissed, recalling them from last time.

"Confessional priests." the Doctor answered, "Very popular. Genetically engineered so you forget everything you told them."

"Told who?" Clara looked back at him.

"There you go."

"Follow me," Tasha cut in and stiffly led them off and into one of her room, not even requesting the girls to wait outside as they led them into a room with a table in the middle. She gestured for them to sit, setting a box before the Doctor as he sat at the end of the table, Raven and Clara on either of his side. "Satisfactory?"

"Where are the pink ones?" He pouted, looking into the box of white marshmallows.

"E numbers. You're hyper enough as it is."

"Oh, thank god." Raven mumbled, lowering her head into her arms.

"So, this is sweet." Clara muttered, "Middle of a siege and you three have little chats?"

"She's right." Tasha nodded at her, "This situation cannot continue."

"It can't end, either." Raven sighed.

"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?" The woman shook her head.

"Well, we did come to Trenzalore," he shrugged, "and nothing can change that now. Didn't stop you trying though, did it?"

"Not me. The Kovarian Chapter broke away. They travelled back along your timeline and tried to prevent you ever reaching Trenzalore."

"So that's who blew up my TARDIS. I thought I'd left the bath running."

"They blew up your time capsule, created the very cracks in the universe through which the Time Lords are now calling."

"The destiny trap." The Doctor murmured, "You can't change history if you're part of it."

"They engineered a psychopath to kill you."

"So they did," he mused, "I'd never have made it here alive without River Song."

"River Song is a brilliant woman," Raven added, "and instead of killing him decided to save him."

"I'm not interested in changing history." Tasha waved off, "I want to change the future. The Daleks send for reinforcements daily. They are massing for war. 3 days ago, they attacked the Mainframe itself."

"They attacked here?" Raven frowned. Daleks attacking but leaving survivors. Not right in her mind...

"How did you stop them?" Clara cried.

"Stop them?" Tasha scoffed, "It was slaughter."

"Why didn't you call us?" The Doctor shook his head, "I could have helped."

"I tried. I died in this room, screaming your name."

Raven cursed, watching the woman as she made her way to Clara, the woman closer to Tasha than them. And with that human brain of hers she likely didn't quite understand what she had. It was slaughter, she said, never saying that she survived, because very few survived the Daleks.

"Oh. I died." Tasha blinked at what she had let slip, "It's funny the things that slip your mind." She gasped sharply at the last word, her head falling to the table.

"No!" the Doctor cried, "No, no, no. Tasha, no, please, not Tasha. No. Fight it. Tash, fight it!" Tasha straightened, a Dalek eyestalk sprouting from her forehead.

The spun as the doors were blasted open and a number of real Daleks entered, "Step away from the Dalek unit, Doctor."

"You shouldn't even know who I am." He glared.

One of Clara's echo life's from his timestream and deleted all information of himself from their Matrix.

"Information concerning the Doctor was harvested from the cadaver of Tasha Lem."

"Bet she never told you how to break through the Trenzalore force field, though." He smirked, "She'd have died first."

"Several times." Another Dalek agreed.

"Well, you'd better kill me, then. Go on. But before you do," he whipped out the sonic and flashed the comms. The message still playing.

"Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who?"

"I'm a tough old bird. I'll be ages dying. Way enough time to answer a question. And then even if you do manage to kill me, Raven will escape and boy, is she violent, take that from me. But she know the answer to the question. And, oh dear, what happens then, boys?"

"You will die in silence, Doctor, or the last Time Lady will die!" A Dalek called.

Raven froze feeling a hand on her shoulder, Tasha had moved while they'd been distracted by the Daleks, a current shooting into her which wasn't quite doing anything. Tasha was fighting.

"You so much as try to hurt her and we'll see how that ends," the Doctor growled.

"See you just called me a Time Lady, but you must not know which one," Raven remarked calmly, "and I handle myself," she added, elbowing the woman in the gut, jabbing her shoulder, the woman's control returning as she fired at the Dalek through the blaster in her hand.

"And she's back!" The Doctor cheered, hugging Raven as she smirked, proud, as he patted Tasha on the back, the eyestalk hiding back in her head, "Right, get us back to the TARDIS. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, but quickly," she nodded, hurrying to her control panel, "the Dalek inside me is waking."

"Fight it." He ordered.

"I can't."

"Fight the darkness inside of you," Raven glared at her, "Both you and I have been fighting the psychopath inside us. It's gonna be hard but damn I'm going to win and so are you."

Tasha nodded, swallowing, ushering them all into the two booths as the Doctor took one with Raven this time, Clara alone in the other, "The forcefield will hold for a while, but it will decay, and there are breaches already."

"Then this is war," Raven stated thickly. No more a standoff, full on war. But this time she wouldn't run. She swore it.

"It's all up to you now, Tasha Lem." The Doctor looked at her though the curtains, "Fight the Daleks, inside and out. You can do it, I know you can."

"Oh, I see." She scoffed, "You've got your TARDIS back, haven't you? Time to fly away."

"Tasha, please." He pleaded, "Please." He whispered as she nodded, "Thank you."

"None of this was for you, you fatuous egotist. It was for the peace. Fly away, Doctor!" She pulled a lever, teleporting them away.

~.~

The Time Lords rushed around the console, trying to figure out how long the shield would hold, who was closest to getting though.

It did not look good.

The Doctor looked up as a bell sounded, "it's done."

"What is?" Clara frowned.

"Your turkey, it's cooked."

"Or woken up." Raven smirked.

"You're joking right?" Clara blinked but Raven merely shrugged as she grabbed her oven mitts she left on the console, "Do you want some?"

"I do like omelettes."

"Raven!" The Doctor huffed.

"Got any plates?" Clara asked.

"Do you know, I've even got Christmas crackers." The Doctor smiled.

"One thing." She paused looking at him, "Give me those big sad eyes, look at me so I know you're not lying, and tell me you will never send me away ever again. Promise me!" She pointed a finger at him as he didn't answer.

"Clara Oswald, I will never send you away again." He swore.

"Thank you," she kissed his cheek before heading down to get the turkey, "Turkey smells good!"

"Yeah, smells great." The Doctor called back, catching sight of young Barnable on the scanner, still waiting for them.

"Perfect." They heard Clara cheering as they teleported out of the room and back to Christmas town.

~.~

The pair stood in the snowy path on Christmas as the TARDIS followed them once Clara stepped out of the TARDIS, leaving her at home. With her family. Safe and sound.

"You came back."

"Course we came back," The Doctor grinned.

Clara would have run outside with the turkey and before she knew it the TARDIS would have left her at her home.

"If you're not leaving, why did you bring it back?" The boy frowned at the box.

"It's a reminder." The Doctor smiled down at him, "Besides, I might leave tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that."

"But we're not going too." Raven offered him a smile.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "this time I'm choosing NOT to run."

They how a town to defend and protect.

Soon havoc will be wrecked.

_'And so, to the fields of Trenzalore came all the Time Lord's enemies. For this was the winter of the Doctor. In time, when all other races had retreated or burned, only the Church of the Mainframe remained in the path of the Daleks. And so those ancient enemies, the Doctor and the Silence, stood back to back on the fields of Trenzalore.'_

_~.~_

Hell.

That was what was happen in Christmas since the Time Lords had returned.

Nothing but hell once the force field broke. Soon their ways of peace had gone with each new generation knowing only of the battle.

At first the Doctor had been in charge but the years. 500 more since Clara. The Doctor had still been ageing. He was now almost unrecognisable, his face full of wrinkles, his hair pure white. As he got only and weaker Raven had taken charge of the war zone that had become the town. She gotten braver. It was hard to believe that she had once been the little girl who wore pretty dresses and ran away, crying behind daddy because of the littlest thing. She had River to thank for that.

Last time she had run from the war, now she was running into it.

She was known as the Doctors constant carer now. During early days there were whispers of just who is she was too him. Most just said the last of the Time Lords, but as generations passed the rumours changed, they'd gone from the last of their kind, to family friend, to daughter. (She had spoken to those starting those rumours about them,) she had a dad and loved him no matter what. The Doctor was not and would never replace him. But now the rumours had stuck with her being his constant carer. He needed her by his side.

Only the Daleks were left now. The rest of his enemies had been defeated or ran away scared. But she couldn't deal with the Daleks. Not so powerful. Not yet.

The Daleks were so powerful and now the Doctor was so weak, so feeble, forgetful. He used to remember everyone names but as he got older and the towns people kept dying either in battle or of old age, he kept confusing them with their ancestors.

And so they were sat in the clock tower, the Doctor in an old armchair as Raven sat on the floor, her back against the side of the chair, listening to the screams outside.

This was the end.

They both knew it.

But the Doctor, ever such a stubborn old man, he refused to go out by old age. It had been how his first body had died and as much as it would be a nice end to his life, going out like he had done the first time. It wasn't his style.

He swore he'd go out with a bang.

And he would.

She frowned, glancing up hearing the door open. Most just barged in nowadays, screaming and crying, desperate. "Clara?" she breathed, seeing the woman standing there…with a Christmas cracker in her hand. She blinked, she had finally snapped and lost her mind.

She blamed the humans.

"Hi…" she breathed. "Tasha…" she began to explain as the Doctor stiffened, seeming to recognise her voice, or maybe Tasha's name, "she brought me back."

"Bet the TARDIS was nice to her." she grumbled, managing to get a small chuckle from the Doctor. After all these years she still kept on that the TARDIS secretly didn't like her. After all these years it was more a running joke, she honestly couldn't tell in the TARDIS hated her now. It had been too long.

Clara gave a soft laugh at that, moving to stand before the Doctor, "hello, Doctor."

"Clara?" he blinked, placing the name, staring at her before he remembered and smiled, "Clara! Were you always so young?"

"Ah," she tried to joke, "That was always you." She blinked back tears at seeing the man always so young, looking so old and tired, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

"It's always Christmas." Raven muttered, shifting to sit before the Doctor so he could look at them both in his sight. This town was named after the holiday because it celebrated it so often and so…extravagantly. She had quickly hated it. Not that she celebrated it, but the Doctor did so she put up with the festivities.

"Brought you something," Clara held up the Christmas cracker in her hand.

Raven reach out for the cracker with the Doctor, knowing that he was too weak to pull it but with his stubborn streak hated to admit that.

The cracker opened easily with a pop.

"Ah!" The Doctor grinned, "Is there a joke? Ha?"

Clara slipped the small paper out of the cracker, "Extract from Thoughts on a Clock by Eric Ritchie junior."

"Is it a knock knock one? Those are best."

"I don't think so." Clara shook her head.

"It's a poem," Raven spoke louder and clearer, so he could see her lips move.

"Well, read it. Go on."

"'And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now. The clock is striking twelve's.'" Clara read the small poem.

"I don't get it." The Doctor frowned.

"Doctor!" A Daleks voice boomed from outside making them, even the Doctor, look towards the doors, "The Doctor will be brought! The Daleks demand the Doctor!"

"They're here." A young man in his late teens came running in, "The Daleks, we can't stop them. They want you."

"Oh, all right, Barnable." The Doctor nodded. "Are you Barnable?"

"No, Doctor." He shook his head. Him and all the other young men in the town were used to be called someone who had been dead for centuries.

"It's ok, Barnable."

Clara glanced at Raven. She was almost certain that the Doctor usually got their names right, did know the young mans' name, but in his state, so close to his death, he was just remembering those who had died.

"I've got a plan," the Doctor waved him off, "Off you pop." The young man scurried off as explosions went off outside, "I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that."

"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Clara asked him.

"Oh, I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. That's generally how it works." He sighed heavily as Raven helped him to his feet, wincing as his back cracked as he grabbed his stick, "Not this time, though. This is it."

"No!" Clara cried.

"Yes. We saw the future, Clara. This is how it ends."

"Change it. Like Tasha said, change the future."

"I could have once, when there were Time Lords. Not anymore. You're going to stay here." He looked at Clara, "Promise me you will."

"Why?"

"I'll be keeping you safe." He managed a small smile, "One last victory. Allow me that. Give me that, my impossible girl. Thank you." He turned to Raven, "you won't run will you?"

"I'm tired of being a coward and running, Doctor." She told him, "I'll stay in here, if you want me too, out of the danger."

He smiled at her, wincing as he began his slow as send up the stairs, Raven rushed to help him, her arm on his, "The trouble with Daleks is, they take so long to say anything. Probably die of boredom before they shoot me." He chuckled.

"Hmm," Raven hummed, "and here I thought you want go to out with a bang."

"Well you wanted me to prove I was spectacular."

She stared at him at that. His memory had faded badly over the centuries, yet he remembered saying that. That summed him up perfectly.

"The Doctor is required!" the Daleks chanted above them, firing their lasers as they stepping out of the tower, heading up to the very top.

"Doctor." A single Dalek flew down to their eye level.

"Sorry, I'm a bit slow," the Doctor panted, trying to catch his breath from the climb. "I may not be at my best right now."

"You never were," Raven smirked. Right now, what he needed most was someone to act normal. Not panicking that this was his end, not being extra nice to him. Someone to treat him the same as when he had been young.

"You are dying, Doctor." The Dalek stated.

"Yes," he swallowed, "I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age. If you want something done, do it yourself." He huffed.

"You will die, and the Time Lords will never return."

"But we're here right now, a clear shot," Raven countered, "and we're still alive."

"You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you?" the Doctor chuckled, "You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve. Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time." He sighed as the Daleks shot at the townsfolk below.

The last thing anyone expected was for the crack, the same crack from down below, appeared in the sky above them, splitting the sky open with a white glow, but there it was, and a golden glow, drifted out of the crack and down and down towards them.

"Whoa!" Raven gasped, jumping back. That glow was regeneration energy! And right now it was just directed to a Time Lord. But it was meant for the Doctor, and she would ensure it made it to him.

The Doctor frowned…only for it to float right into his mouth. His eyes wide in surprise as he slapped his lips shut, his hands already beginning to glow with regeneration energy.

"They actually did something good for once," Raven remarked softly looking up at the crack as she slammed shut again.

"You will die now, Doctor." The Dalek before them stated. "This is the end of you. The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives."

"Oh, this'll be fun." Raven smirked. The start of a new regeneration cycle was violent, brutally violent. 100% more dangerous than just the usual. She bit her lip in anticipation. This will definitely rid the Daleks.

"Sorry, what did you say?" The Doctor smirked at them, nodding at Raven as she slowly shuffled back down the stairs. As much as she wanted to a clear view, she wasn't going to risk herself getting harmed, "Did you mention the rules? Now, listen. Bit of advice. Tell me the truth if you think you know it. Lay down the law if you're feeling brave. But, Daleks, never, ever tell me the rules!"

"Emergency!" The Daleks cried as the energy brightened, surrounding the Doctor, now realising what was happening, "Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!"

"Oh, look at this!" he cheered as the clock struck 12, making Raven wince at the sound so close to her ears, "Regeneration number 13. We're breaking some serious science here, boys. I tell you what, it's going to be a whopper! You think you can stop me now, Daleks? If you want my life, ha, ha, come and get it!" He spun an arm around, before sending a blast of regeneration energy at the Daleks, doing the same with his other arm, blasting the Daleks. "Love from Gallifrey, boys!" He grinned, throwing his head back, his arms out, the energy blasting the Dalek ship to nothing...

~.~

Once the energy had disappeared, Raven peeked back out, seeing all the Daleks dead. Not a single one having survived his regeneration. She smirked at him, seeing he had reverted back to his youthful appearance.

"That…was…SPECTACULAR!" She squealed, absolutely delighted the Daleks were gone.

"I told you I was." he remarked casually as they headed down to the TARDIS. He had yet to actually regeneration, this was just…a restart. And the safest place to regenerate was the TARDIS.

"Sorry, I doubted you. They're gone. All of the Daleks."

"Yup."

"Brilliant!" she breathed.

~.~

"Hey…" Clara called as she entered, seeing it was safe to cross the town, seeing that only Raven was in the console room, the girl picking up the Doctors old and greying clothes.

"He's getting changed." She told her, knowing that was going to be the humans' question. So predictable. "Wanted to go out with a bang."

"Hasn't he already done that?" she joked, grimacing at the empty bowl of fish fingers and custard set on the console, before she spotted the Doctor heading down the stairs to them, "Doctor," she smiled, seeing him looking as young as he used to be, in a clean purple suit.

"Hello." He offered them a sad smile.

"You're young again. You're ok. You didn't even change your face."

"It's started. I can't stop it now. This is just the reset. A whole new regeneration cycle. Ooh," he smirks, taking the last of the fish fingers in the bowl, savouring every bite knowing his next body may hate the food, "Taking a bit longer. Just breaking it in." He winced, shifting in discomfort as Raven pulled a lever, sending them into the vortex, knowing the best place to rest after a new regeneration cycle. "It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now, he's a-coming."

"Who's coming?" Clara frowned.

"The Doctor." He grinned at her.

"So you." Raven deadpanned, making his waggle a finger at her.

"I wish Amelia was here," he admitted.

"Rivers mother?" Raven confirmed. She knew that was how River came to be, the companion before Clara had been married and she had been conceived on the TARDIS resulting in her human DNA getting mixed with a bit of the vortex, creating a human plus Time Lord.

"The first face, this face saw," he sighed, "But times change," he stepped back as he hands began to glow again, "and so must I. We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me..." He trailed off, removing his bow tie, letting it drop to the floor.

"No..." Clara shook her head, feeling tears in her eyes, "Please don't change..."

"Good luck," Raven offered, tugging Clara back.

The Doctor winked at them before jerking back and shot back again, an entire different man.

Older this time, a few wrinkles on his face, with curly grey hair, fierce looking eyebrows above pale blue-grey eyes.

Raven laughed, laughing for the first time in many years as she took in his new appearance, while Clara could only stare at the new man. His eyebrows were hilarious! After going a regeneration without any he now had too much eyebrows. Oh, she would irritate him about that.

"Kidneys!" He gasped, his voice deep, making Raven laugh even harder at that being his first word, "I don't like the colour of my kidneys!"

"You don't like the colour of your kidneys?" Clara could only gape at the new Doctor. Utterly confused at what Raven was finding so funny, that girl was bananas. Only for the TARDIS to jolt. "What's happening?" She cried, grabbing onto the console.

"We're probably crashing." He shouted back.

"Into what?"

"Stay calm." He ordered, turning to point at Raven, "can you drive this thing?"

"Why? Don't you know how?" She teased, already moving to the console.

He frowned, which didn't take much with those eyebrows that looked like they were naturally meant to frown and glare, "I forgot."

Which only made her laugh again, but Clara didn't see the funny side, her eyes widening in horror...

** : Thanks :), i'm glad your enjoying the story.**


	4. Deep breath

Raven cursed, quickly pulling her hand back and hissing from the electric shock, "I am trying to help." She hissed to the rotor.

She had been trying to get them back on Earth on Clara's time when the Doctor had suddenly remembered how to drive and taken over.

How do you end up in the mouth of a T-Rex when on course to Modern day London. AND get lodged in it's throat?!

"Raven." Clara snapped out of her shock as the girl rushed around the console, trying to countermand what the Doctor imputed, "what the hell is going on?"

"Language!" the Doctor snapped his fingers at her before trying to countermand Raven's countermand of his command.

"Well, the Doctor got us stuck in a dinosaurs throat," Raven answered her, countermanding the Doctors countermand of her countermand, "and somehow we ended up taking her with us and we're now on course to Victorian London," her brain hurt trying to figure out how that had happened, "how?" But at least Vastra knew of regeneration and so she would be a little help. Clara just seemed in too much shock.

"Well I was just trying to help you." The Doctor defended.

"Can you get us out of the dinosaur?" Clara huffed.

"Stupid question!" She called, twisting a knob and pulling a lever up, sending the room shaking as they landed in what the monitor showed as the bank besides the river Thames. "Got it!"

All three of them glanced to the doors as someone knocked. Who in their right mind who knock on a blue police box that had flown out of a dinosaur now in the Thames?

"Hello? Exit the box, and surrender to the glory of the Sontaran Empire."

Strax. Of course Strax would be the one to knock. It had to be Strax, as far as they were concerned there wasn't any Sontarans in Victorian London besides him.

"That was…" Clara blinked, pointing to the door, recognising the Sontarans voice.

The Doctor rushed to the door, opening it to see the Sontaran standing there in a suit, "Shush." He glared and slammed it shut again.

"Doctor." Raven sighed, rubbing her head. Why was he the only known Time Lord that reacted badly to regenerated? He never was one to just get up and continue as normal. She really hoped she wouldn't react like this when she regenerated.

He looked back at her, owlishly, giving her a silent nod and opening the door again, "I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I managed to give it the slip." He then frowned at the Sontaran, getting into his face making Strax lean back, "sleepy?"

"Sir?"

"Bashful? Sneezy? Dopey? Grumpy?"

"Raven?" She glanced over to see Vastra and Jenny standing a short distance away.

"Sorry," she offered, stepping out after the Doctor, the man advancing on Strax. "We came here by accident."

"Oh, you two." He noticed Raven had headed to the females, "The green one," he pointed at Madame Vastra, "and the not-green one." And at Jenny, "Or it could be the other way round, I mustn't prejudge. Oh, you remember, er..." He gestured to the TARDIS doors only to see no one there, and pointed at Raven, "the bird!" He exclaimed, "You remember the bird." He gestured to her, noticing Clara appeared at the TARDIS doors, shaken, "oh! You remember thingy...The, er, the not-me one. The asking questions one. Names not my area."

"Clara Oswald." Raven stated. In no mood to be patient with him. She had been patient on Trenzalore because his mind was going with age. Right now it was just after effects of regeneration. She would not be patient with him today.

"Well, it might be Clara." He waved her off, "Might not be. It's a lottery."

"No that's regeneration."

"It is Clara." The woman insisted, slowly making her way over.

"Well, I'm not ruling it out." The Doctor grumbled.

"Doctor..."

"Raven?" He looked at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "don't argue with a woman."

"Right! Got it," he nodded and turned to the bellowing dinosaur, "Oi, big man, shut it. Oh, you've got a dinosaur too. Big woman, sorry."

"Woman?" Jenny blinked. She had assumed Vastra had been joking when she said the dinosaur was a female.

"Raven," Clara made her way over to the girl as she watched the Doctors every move, almost amused by his antics, "is he ok? Has something gone wrong?"

"Wrong?" The Doctor spun to them at that, "What's gone wrong? Have you regenerated?" He squinted at Clara, "I remember you...You're Handles. You used to be a little, a little robot head, and now you. You've really let yourself go." He glanced up at the roaring dinosaur and spun to Vastra, "Reduce the frequency."

"I'm sorry?" She blinked.

"Your sonic lanterns, turn them down. You're giving her a headache."

"Giving who a headache?" Jenny shook her head.

"My lady friend." He gestured to the dinosaur, "Just an expression, don't get any ideas."

"How do you know?" Strax frowned.

"Because I speak dinosaur!" He told the Sontaran.

"Alright," Raven took his arm, "take it easy."

"But…" he blinked, frowning at her, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You on the other hand..."

"But you're going dark and wobbly. Stop it. Don't do that."

"Why not take a nap?" She suggested.

"Yes," he murmured, "a nap. Everyone take five!" The Doctor snapped his eyes shut and fell backwards in the bank, snoring.

"Is he ok?" Clara rushed over, "did something go wrong?"

Raven stared down at him, shrugging, "new regeneration cycles," she sighed, "it will take a lot out of him."

"Well then, here we go again," Vastra remarked as the females, moving to help lift the man up, willing to offer him a room.

~.~

"Doctor!" Raven finally snapped as she stood in a spare room at Vastra's trying and failing to get the man to sleep his regeneration off. She could just make out that the females were outside, trying to listen in. Clara out of curiosity while Vastra was likely listen to make sure she didn't kill him for annoyance.

The man had awoken to find that Strax had changed him into a night shirt and he was in a bedroom. A room with hardly anything but a bed inside. He was acting like he had never even see one before. She blinked at that, Time Lords didn't need to sleep as much as humans, but now she thought about it. She had never seen the man sleeping.

"And you…" he pointed at her, "why are you talking like that?"

"You mean I sound irritated?" she grit out.

"No! Well…yeah. But why have you changed your accent."

"My accent hasn't changed since birth!"

"You sound like those humans!" he gestured wildly to the door, both knowing they were listening in.

She crossed her arms, "Doctor you're Scottish now. Now," she glared at him, "either go to sleep by choice or I'll make you…"

He waved her off, "nah, you can't!"

She didn't answer as she stepped up to him, fingers to his temples and he flopped back against the bed, completely out…snoring.

"Why do all men snore?" She grumbled.

"Raven?" Clara called hesitantly through the door, "Is it safe to come in…"

"Suppose so."

The door slowly opened, and Clara stepped in with Jenny and Vastra, "so…what do we do now?" she asked, as Jenny, moved to pull the covers over the Doctors sleeping body, "how do we fix him?"

"Fix him?" Jenny frowned.

Vastra eyed Clara long and slowly, almost peeved by her words, "Jenny," she turned to her wife, "I will be in my chamber. Would you be kind enough to fetch my veil?"

"Oh no," Raven shook her head, "this ones on me."

Vastra looked at Clara, the one fixing the covers, seemingly fidgeting around the new man, "very well." She nodded curtly and left.

"What have I done wrong?" Clara murmured, noticing Vastra had been watching her.

"The dinosaur doesn't seem very happy." Jenny frowned out of the window, before excusing herself after Vastra.

"What's wrong with it?" Clara turned to Raven. If the Doctor spoke dinosaur, maybe she did as well.

"It's alone," Raven sighed, closing her eyes as she translated, "The world which shook at my feet, and the trees and the sky, have gone. And I am alone now. Alone..." she trailed off, glancing at the Doctor as he murmured along with her.

"The wind bites now," the man continued in his sleep, "and the world is grey, and I am alone here. Can't see me. Doesn't see me. Can't see me…"

"Who can't see it?" Clara frowned at that, "I think all of London can see it."

"Clara, he's translating in his sleep," she waved her off, "I wouldn't fret about it."

"Where did he get the face?" she wondered, "Why's it go lines on it? It's brand new. How can his hair be all grey? He's only just got it…"

"Has he not explained regeneration to you?" Raven eyed her.

"A little but…"

"Let him sleep," Raven warned, "let's talk." She dragged the woman out of the room and down to Vastra's study, gesturing for Clara to take the wooden chair opposite Vastras armchair as Raven poured herself a glass of wine, feeling she deserved it from the journey from Trenzalore, to prehistoric Earth and finally to Victorian London. She sunk into the armchair, "Regeneration…it's a lottery. Completely random. Old or young, white or black, male or female. My dad," she swallowed, "when we left the war and he made himself human he regenerated into a baby." It still surprised her that the man as a human never once even thought anything of the fact that she had been there his entire life, looking the exact same, while he had gone through an entire human life. She had worn a perception filter for all those years, but that had merely been to stop the questions of why she never aged.

"I just…" Clara took a breath, "the TARDIS went haywire, the Doctor was gone…"

"The Doctor is upstairs." Raven corrected.

"The last him, I mean. He doesn't look renewed…he's older…is that healthy?"

"For his age?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Could that happen with you?" she asked, "could you go from this…" she gestured vaguely to her youthful appearance, "and then suddenly be old and crimpled."

"Possibly," she nodded, "but natural born females do seem to be able to have more control than the men." She frowned at that. Still no one know why that was. It was strange though how the woman could change and get up and continue like nothing had happened but men, they tended to have a burst of adrenaline.

"But he is healthy?" Clara repeated, "He's not going…have a hearts attack or anything anytime soon?"

Raven stared at her at that. It seemed both she and Vastra had thought wrong by Clara's words. She was in shock of the sudden regeneration and crashing TARDIS. But she didn't mean change the Doctor back to his youthful appearance. She just wanted to make sure he was healthy and not going to die like he had been near the end of Trenzalore needing a cane.

"I could give him a heart attack, if you wish." She smirked.

"RAVEN!" Clara whined, knowing she was joking…or at least for now. But the girl was laughing, "I don't think I ever heard you laugh, at least before the owl appeared."

"I know," she grinned, "It's a rare occasion. Even before…before everything happened."

"You never even laughed with friends when you were children?" Clara asked, honestly if Raven spent so much time alone it was no wonder she was how she was.

She shrugged, "it wasn't really a childhood, more a line of duty to watch over the universe."

"That's horrible…" Clara shook her head.

Raven shrugged of her pity, Clara, nor any other species would ever understand a young Gallifreyans time at the Academy, it wasn't like a human school, they started younger and once they started, they hardly saw their family, they usually only had three days off each year, considering they started at the age of 8 and didn't graduate until 400, that was a very long time. It was even worse when she had to spend most of that time alone. She just focused on her work. She knew what she wanted and she knew she would be the best of the best.

A loud, agonised roar echoed, directly from the river.

"The dinosaur!" Clara gasped, jumping to her feet and rushing to the window to see the dinosaur in the distance…bursting into flames, "oh my god…Raven."

"That came from the river." Vastra called as she ran to them.

"The dinosaur." Jenny agreed.

Raven hesitated, the chance of saving the dinosaur was very slim. By the time they got there it would likely be dead. But the Doctor, she had heard him get up and she knew he had gone to see it and help it.

Idiot.

"We go." Clara nodded.

"Strax!" Vastra shouted through the house, "Bring the carriage, now!"

~.~

Jenny gasped as the carriage raised towards the river, Strax not even slowing for a bumps, "What do you think's happened?"

"I don't know, but I fear devilment." Vastra sighed.

"Should we not have told the Doctor?" Clara wondered. The man would not likely be happy to hear that they had gone into what was likely going to be dangerous, he would want to know what was happening.

"He already knows," Raven stated.

"How do you know?" Clara looked at her.

"The bedroom window was left wide open."

"Oh…"

"And I heard him sneak out."

"Oh." She always forgot that Time Lords had far better hearing than Humans.

They came to sudden halt on the bridge, the Doctor standing on the edge, staring down at collapsed dinosaur, the flames all that was left.

"Doctor…" Raven eyed him.

"She was scared," he whispered as the dinosaur took its last breath, "She was scared and alone. I brought her here and look what they did."

"Who or what could have done this thing?" Vastra inquired.

"No." He shook his head, "That is not the question. That is not where we start."

"The question is how." Strax called from the driver seat, "The flesh itself has been combusted."

"No, no, shut up!" He snapped at the Sontaran, "What do you all have for brains, pudding? Look at you. Why can't I meet a decent species? Planet of the pudding brains."

"Pudding brains?" Raven looked at him oddly, "stupid insult."

"Doctor, I know you're upset," Clara called cautiously, "but you need to calm down and talk to us. What is the question?"

He looked down at the dinosaur, "A dinosaur is burning in the heart of London. Nothing left but smoke and flame. The question is," he turned to face them, "have there been any similar murders?"

Vastra frowned, thinking about it, "Yes. Yes, by the Goddess, there have."

The Doctor, however, now seemed distracted by the crowd of humans, "Look at them all, gawking."

"Not all of them." Raven pointed down to one of them men standing slightly parted from the crowd, "he's just staring."

The Doctor followed her fingers to see the man half hidden in the darkness, just staring emotionless at the dinosaur before walking away. "So what is he?"

"He seems remarkably unmoved by the available spectacle." Vastra agreed, watching as the man walked off.

"Do you think that is whoever..." But whatever Clara was going to say was cut off by a splash as the Doctor jumped into the river, "What he's doing?" Clara cried, leaning over the edge, "He'll drown."

"I very much doubt it." Vastra remarked.

"Why?" She glanced back at the woman.

"There has been a murder. The Doctor has taken up the case. If we are to see him again, we must do the same."

"I'll go after him," Raven sighed.

"Er…you sure?" Clara eyed her.

"That man in alone in the middle of London, still in his regeneration cycle, from an entire new set…I think it's safer."

"Right." She nodded. She didn't quite believe that to be the answer.

~.~

Raven rolled her eyes as she found the Doctor in an ally, still in the night shirt, though now it had mixes of brown and grey stains. Disgusting. And the man himself was shifting though the rubbish.

"It's a bit cold, isn't it?" She called.

The man jumped at her voice, looking over at her, to see a thick coat in her arms.

"Bitey." He corrected. "Yes. That's a thing. It's cold." He inhaled sharply, the cold air filling his new lungs, "do you happen to have a big, long scarf?" He asked her.

"You've moved on from that," she stated, "At least I hope you have. But I got you this." She thrusted the coat in his arms.

"Where from?"

"Does it matter?" She countered.

"Suppose not."

"Stole it from a tramp." She shrugged.

"Yes, right," he muttered, "it looked stupid anyway." He was still on about the scarf.

"Did you wear that and then my dad caused you to fall of a tower to your death?" Raven inquired innocently.

He moved and picked up a piece of mirror from the rubbish pile, "er, I don't remember," he mumbled, looking at his reflection, not having been able to see his new face earlier, "have you seen this face before?"

"No..." she shook her head. "Should I have done?"

"It's funny, because I'm sure that I have. You know," he glanced back at her, "I never know where the faces come from. They just pop up. Zap. Faces like this one." He looked back into the mirror, frowning and pulling faces making his wrinkles move, "it's covered in lines. But I didn't do the frowning. Who frowned me this face? Do you ever look in the mirror and think I've seen that face before?" He was sure he had seen it somewhere before. Just for a day. Male Time Lords typically had less control over regenerations than females, but he was certain this face was now his for a reason. "Why this one? Why did I choose this face? It's like I'm trying to tell myself something. Like I'm trying to make a point. But what is so important that I can't just tell myself what I'm thinking?"

"I hope you're not expecting an answer," Raven blinked.

"I was actually," he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, it could be anything with you."

"Too right." He sighed, "so, what do you think? Of my face?"

"Does it matter?" She countered.

"Yes!"

"Well what do YOU think of it?"

"I don't like it," he admitted, "it's all right up until the eyebrows. Then it just goes haywire. Look at the eyebrows." He raised them up and back down, wiggling them separately, "These are attack eyebrows. You could take bottle tops off with these. They're cross. They're crosser than the rest of my face. They're independently cross. They probably want to cede from the rest of my face and set up their own independent state of eyebrows."

"Very Scottish," Raven smirked.

"Oh," he frowned, listening to his words, the Scottish accent that rolled of his new tongue, "I am Scottish. Good. I can complain about things now."

"You were complaining before." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Yes, right," he nodded slowly, before shivering from the cold air around them and suddenly realised that Raven had gotten him a coat. A coat that he was merely holding in his arms. He quickly threw it on. "Thank you," he told her, "for the coat."

She shrugged, "I could only imagine how much worse you'd be ill," she remarked, dryly. She didn't want to deal with a sick Doctor because she missed up stealing a coat from a homeless man. "I do like the eyebrows," she offered, "you look like an angry owl."

He stared at her, though it looked more like a glare without even trying, "did you just come to insult me."

"I did also come to keep an eye on you," she had come to insult him as well. That was the original idea, "also I found this," she pulled out a rolled up newspaper. The headline standing proud; 'fourth case of Spontanous Combustion.'

"Would you be insulted if I blamed the English?" He asked her.

"I'd be more insulted if you called me English," she shot back, "I'm Gallifreyan."

~.~

Raven slid into the booth she found Clara sitting at the next day, sometime around lunch. They had seen another article, 'Impossible Girl, Lunch on the other side' the Doctor had assumed it was Clara trying to get in contact with them, his nickname for her that Raven didn't question about. He couldn't work out where she wanted to meet, though. She had, she had just flipped the age over to see the advert on the other side for a Macini's family restaurant. He had assumed Clara was trying to be clever and test his attention span while Raven had easily worked it out.

The Doctor slid in besides her, the girl in the middle with him on one side, Clara on the other, the human wafting her menu under her nose from the smell of the river and tramp coat. But her gaze was on the diners, watching them raising their cutlery, taking the odd sip of beverage. Something about it didn't seem quite right.

"Sorry for popping off like that," the Doctor grinned at Clara.

"You mean you wandered off," Clara countered.

"In my defence...I did just regenerate."

"Where did you get that coat?" Clara demanded. She knew full well that she didn't have any money to have been able to pay for it. God knows he probably found it in a dumpster.

"Raven gave me it."

She turned to the girl besides her, "Raven?"

"Does it matter?" She scoffed, "either a sick from the cold Doctor or smelly Doctor."

"Was it a tramp?"

"Naturally." She nodded, before whispering, "We know this is a trap, right?"

"We do?" the Doctor blinked.

"The advert in the paper…?" Clara frowned.

"Yes. I saw it," he focused on Clara, "it did have a narcissistic, obsessive, manipulator sort of feel to it."

"And you thought it was from me?" Clara was offended now.

"Clara the semi-decent ape." Raven said.

"Thanks," Clara smiled, before frowning, "I think."

"And I saw the ad FROM the Impossible Girl." The Doctor continued.

"No," Clara shook her head, "FOR the Impossible a Girl. It was from Raven."

"Why did you think it was from me?" the girl cried.

"Because it was so obvious that you were oblivious to the answer. It sounded like you."

"Yeah…" she had to agree with that. "But it wasn't me so…who placed the ad?"

It honestly was like the add had been placed for all three of them, one article well placed to draw the Doctor in a notice the impossible girl add to realise Clara was involved, while also drawing Clara in, leaving them to work out where they needed to meet up. The paper she found, it was far too easily in her eyesight for her to pass up. Like it was there to draw both the Doctor and Clara back together but she was the one to draw them together again. How very odd.

"Good point," he nodded, "It must a vanity trap. You're so busy congratulating yourself on solving the puzzle, you don't notice that you're sticking your head in a noose." He pulled a hair from his head looking at it intently.

"What are you doing?" Clara leaned forwards for a better look. "And that isn't the only grey one, if you are, erm, having a cull."

"It's too short," he murmured. He glanced at Raven whose hair was even shorter.

"Are you trying to measure the air disturbance of the room?" Raven asked.

They both turned their gaze to Clara, the girl with the shoulder length hair. She sighed, plucking a piece just to get them to stop staring, she still didn't have a clue what they needed it for.

The Doctor eyed the hair, it would do.

"Moments when you know you are boring." Clara smirked as the Doctor dropped the hair besides the table watching as it slowly fell to the floor.

"There is something extremely wrong with everybody else in this room." He whispered leaning close to not be other heard.

"There not eating," Raven mumbled, having noticing something was wrong the moment she stepped inside, only now placing what it was. They were lifting their cutlery to their mouths, but not actually eating, just raising and lowering, repeating the motions over and over.

Clara casted a quick glance, squinting, "so they aren't."

"Something else they're not doing" the Doctor whispered, "breathing."

"So what do we do?" Clara hissed.

"We could just walk out," Raven suggested, "like we changed our mind."

"People do that all the time," Clara agreed, not wanting to be surrounded by robots in a trap any longer.

Only for the robots to turn to them, staring them down, not even allowing them to stand up.

"Robots..." The Doctor mused, "in Victorian London? Why?"

"What are they?" Clara asked quietly.

"I don't know." He sighed, "But don't worry, because that's not the question. The question is, what is this restaurant?"

"Ok, what is this restaurant?"

"I don't know." He picked up the menu again only for a waiter to march over to them, "Er, no sausages?" He floundered, "Do you...And there's no pictures either. Do you have a children's menu?"

"He's a picky eater." Raven explained.

"I'm not as picky as you."

"I will eat you if I get hungry enough."

"Calm down Skeletor." He muttered before the waiter shone a green light from the tip of his pencil, the Doctor went cross-eyed to look at it. "Any specials?"

"Liver." The waiter stated.

"I don't like liver."

"Spleen. Brain stem. Eyes."

"Mmm. Is there a lot of demand for those?" Clara wondered.

"We're the menu." Raven whispered to her.

"Lungs." Clara grimaced at the waiter continued, "Skin."

"Excuse me." The Doctor called, leaning over and pulling the waiters face off to reveal a robot underneath.

"Ok," Clara sucked a breath, "Robot in a mask."

"It's a face." Raven stated, poking it with the knife set on the table before her.

"Yeah, it's very convincing."

"No, it's an actually human face." Raven held it up before Clara.

The humans whacked her arm away with a gasp of disgust, "Oh my god!"

"Yes." The waiter suddenly spoke.

"Yes, what?" The Doctor tensed, unsure what he'd say next.

"Yes we have a children menu."

Clara gasped at what that meant. They ate children too. The Doctor seem to grasp that as well, pulling the sonic and a flashing it at the robot, making it spark and stagger backwards, because there was an orphan child right there next to him. And he'd be damn if anyone was going to try to eat her, she was in his care.

He knew she wasn't a child anymore, what with being over 1000 years old. But compared to him, she was still young. He had a duty of care.

The robots in the room stood and looked at them as the room shook, metal bands appeared from the back of the booth, trapping them as just the small portion around their booth as they were slowly lowered into the unknown.

"Well," the Doctor remarked, "you've got to admire their efficiency."

"Is it ok if I don't," Clara deadpanned as they came to a stop.

The unknown turned out to be a dark, circular room with a steampunk feel, the man from earlier who had been undisturbed by the dying dinosaur was sat in a chair in the middle of the room, his back to them.

"Hello?" The Doctor called to the man, "Hello, are you the manager? I demand to speak to the manager."

"This is not a real restaurant, is it?" Clara sighed.

"What gave it away?" Raven deadpanned.

"Well now, it's more a sort of automated organ collection station for the unwary diner. Sweeney Todd without the pies."

"So where are we now?" Clara breathed.

"Spaceship?" Raven glanced around, still trapped to the booth. She squinted, trying to make out the architecture.

"Probably buried for centuries." The Doctor agreed but had to add, "or it's a larder."

"So why hasn't somebody come for us?" Clara wondered.

"We're alive." He shrugged.

"We're alive in a larder."

"Exactly. It's cheaper than freezing us."

"So how do we get out?" Clara looked over at the Doctor.

"Er," he shifted so that the sonic was peeking out of his coat, shaking it out, trying to get it onto his lap but instead it rolled to the floor. "Damn…"

"Wait…" Raven extended her legs, the tip of her shoe under the sonic as she flipped it up, carefully rolling it down her leg onto her lap, sonicing herself free before the Doctor and Clara.

"Nicely done."

She smiled as she tossed it back to him, "I might make my own, you now. Sonic, this time. We've moved past the laser." She had been the one to make that. If she hadn't, then the Doctor would have never spent the year aged as an old man.

They stepped further into the room, large and unused. Around the circular walls were small caves where men and women, immobile, possible robots like those upstairs. In the middle of the room, on a chair, was man, the man who had been unmoved by the burning dinosaur.

"Dormant." Raven murmured, looking around at the various robots.

"Reckon?" Clara glanced at her.

"I hope so," the Doctor remarked, eying the man in the middle of the room, the only robot with half a face.

"So, is it these guys that killed the dinosaur?" Clara questioned.

"Well, if they're harvesting organs, a dinosaur would have some great stuff."

"Why would robots need organs? Burke and Hare from space?"

"No, but that's a good theory." He nodded, "Droids harvesting spare parts. That rings a bell." He stood before the robot, "Captain, my Captain. He's recharging. He's asleep. Doesn't even know we're here."

"Are you sure?" Clara looked at him.

He waved her off, "Sure. Not sure. One or the other."

"So cyborg, yeah? Half-man, half-robot."

"I don't think it's that," Raven murmured, "it's almost like it's a robot wanting to be human," she pointed to his hands.

"What do you mean?" Clara shook her head at her.

"Well they don't match." She pointed to them, one was small and feminine the other rather large.

"So they're using the restaurant for spare parts?" Clara frowned.

"For a long time," Raven remarked, "the metal work…it looks roman. But could easily have been around even longer."

Before the Doctor could ponder on her words the half face man suddenly jerked, making them all jump back.

"Is it waking up?" Clara whispered.

"I don't really want to stay and find out." He muttered, moving to the hallway, having seen the door earlier and now ready to leave, "I've seen this before. I'm missing something. It's the brand new head, rebooting." He turned back into the room.

"Doctor." Clara huffed, moving into the brightly lit hallway.

"I've seen this before. I know I have."

"You can think about that later," Raven huffed, giving him a push back to the hallway only for the door to slam shut before her, leaving her trapped with the cyborg and the Doctor and Clara in the corridor. She cursed under her breath. "Oh, crap…"

"Raven!" the Doctor called, flashing the sonic on the door, "ooh, that's complicated."

"Well, we'll go and get Vastra." Clara tried, "they'll know what to do."

"No…" the Doctor shook his head, trying the door again. Anything to get it open. He had a duty of care.

Raven glanced back, seeing the cyborg slowly standing, she swallowed. And looked back at the Doctor before an idea appeared, "go." She encouraged, "go and get enforcements."

"Raven…?" the Doctor eyed her cautiously. She had admitted, multiple times, that she was a coward. That was why she had gone with the Master and escaped the war, because she had been terrified and he offered her a way to live. It was why she took off after her burnt the body instead of sticking around. Fear of her punishment.

She smirked, "I've just have a very clever idea…"

"We'll go get Vastra." Clara swore, tugging the Doctor off, the man glancing back at her but leaving her to her 'clever idea'.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she remarked turning to the cyborg as activated the robots in the alcoves. Oh, she'd regret this later.

"Where are the others?" It demanded of her, "You will tell us, or you will be destroyed."

"Or what?"

"You will die."

"Go right ahead. I'd rather die."

"You will be destroyed."

"So destroy me…because if you do then you won't find out where the others went. So come on. Destroy me! If don't...well, I won't believe any of your future threats."

"Humans feel pain."

"Ah but I'm not human. You might even say I'm a tough old bird," she laughed to herself, oh she really did choose her title well.

"The information can be extracted by means of your suffering."

"Like I said; I'd rather die. I'm not betraying them." She stepped back at the Cyborg literally pulled its hand off, revealing the flame thrower beneath. "Ok, right now I'm terrified," she swallowed the lump in her throat, "how about we try to negotiate?" She offered.

"We do not negotiate." It stated.

"Why did you kill the dinosaur?"

He paused, tilting his head, seemingly deciding to answer her question for his own, "Within the optic nerve of the dinosaur is material of use to our computer systems."

"You know what's in a dinosaur's optic nerve?" Raven frowned, "how long having been rebuilding yourselves?" To have been around as long as the dinosaurs. Oh god...definitely been around longer than the Romans.

"We will reach the promised land."

"The promise land? What's the promise land?"

"Where are the other ones?" It demanded.

She smirked, "you really shouldn't have asked that." She caught the sonic as the Doctor tossed it to her as she set it in the charging station besides the chair. The man rushing in with Clara, having found Vastra already on her way with Jenny and Strax upstairs and rushed back to work on the door, having heard everything. She had said she wouldn't betray him. That touched his hearts.

"You alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she breathed, "I think so."

"You were brilliant."

"Like i could be anything less." she joked as he rolled his eyes at her arrogance.

"Why are you here?" The cyborg watched him.

"Why did you invite us?" The Doctor countered, "The message, in the paper. That was you, wasn't it?" The cyborg merely tilted his head at him as the Doctor took his sonic back, "oh. I hate being wrong in public."

"Still?" Raven scoffed, "but it happens so often."

"Oi! Seriously?"

"I burned an ancient, beautiful creature for one inch of optic nerve. What do you think you can accomplish, little man?" The cyborg eyed him.

The Doctor stepped back as three strips of fabric draped down and Vastra and Jenny came down, landing gracefully and pulling out their swords. "Remain still, and lay down your weapons in the name of the British Empire." Vastra ordered.

Raven whistled, impressed, "nice!"

And then Strax came crashing down, landing on his face, with a cry.

"Strax." Vastra huffed.

"Sorry." He straightened.

"I've told you before." Jenny rolled her eyes, "Take the stairs."

"Here comes the cavalry," the Doctor commented, at least now they didn't have to worry about dealing with the other robots upstairs. "What do you? Vastra?" He snapped his fingers at her.

Vastra stepped forwards, sword raised, "The establishment upstairs has been disabled with maximum prejudice, and the authorities summoned."

"I say we should start calling the police," Clara remarked.

"I hate authority figures." Raven grumbled.

"You see?" The Doctor grinned at the cyborg, "Destroy us if you will, they're still going to close your restaurant..." He frowned, "That was going to sound better."

"Sure it was." Raven mocked.

"Are you ever going to stop insulting me?" he looked at her.

"Nope!"

Well, at least she was honest.

"Then we will destroy you." The cyborg stated as all the other robots raised their own swords instead of hands.

"No, you won't. You're logical. You have restraint. You killed to survive. You're not a murderer."

"This is a slaughterhouse." Clara reminded him.

"And how does that make it different from any other restaurant? You weren't vegetarian the last time I checked. This is over. Killing us won't change that. What would be the point?"

"To find the promise land."

"You're millions of years old. It's time you knew, there isn't one."

"I am in search of paradise. I will leave in the escape capsule." He jerkily turned his back on them and walked away, "Destroy where necessary." He ordered, jerkily sitting the booth.

"Escape capsule?" Vastra scoffed, "This ship is millions of years old. It'll never fly."

"It has been repaired."

"What with?" Clara frowned.

"You."

"Oh god," she grimaced, "does he mean skin?"

"Defensive positions, everyone." Strax yelled as the robots advanced, him, Vastra and Jenny preparing to fight.

"Doctor!" Clara gasped as the robots began to circle them. "He's getting away!" she notice the cyborg moving to the booth, slowly rising.

Raven lifted a leg up, kicking one of the robots firmly in the chest, making it stumble back, giving them space to head to the booth.

The Doctor quickly grabbed hold of the bar under the booth, getting a firm grip as it raised higher and higher, taking Ravens hand in his. Leaving Clara under the protection of Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

"Can you get the sonic?" The Doctor asked as Raven pulled it out of his pocket, flashing it at the hatch, lifting it up as the Doctor helped heave her up as she climbed up and back into the empty restaurant, well, the robots Vastra and Jenny had taken care of dining room floor. The Doctor clambering out after her.

"Stay here," the Doctor instructed her,

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Please…" he added as he moved to another table, unnoticed by the cyborg, only turning to as he began to pour two glasses of whiskey, Raven crossing her arms but sulked near the booth.

"What are you doing?" It asked.

"I've got the horrible feeling I'm going to have to kill you." The Doctor murmured, "I thought you might appreciate a drink first. I know I would." He held a glass up.

The cyborg merely turned to the control panel on the wall, opening it up and pulling down the small lever inside.

"51st century, right?" The Doctor guessed, "Time travelling spaceship crashed in the past. You're trying to get home the long way round."

"I will go to the promised land." It muttered.

"So you keep saying. Ok, so your restaurant is made out of your old ship. But you're wasting your time. It can't ever fly."

"The escape pod is viable."

"How do you patch up a spaceship with...with human remains?" Raven called, she didn't know if she felt curious or sick at the thought.

"You know, this really is ringing a bell." The Doctor remarked.

Only for the room to shake, the ship powering up, the Doctor stumbling, grabbing the chair as Raven managed to keep her footing, barely.

"Ok, that's clever." The Doctor frowned, "How are you powering it?"

"Skin." The cyborg answered as the room shook even more.

The Doctor glanced around the room again and there he noticed the inscription, "SS Marie Antoinette." He murmured, "Out of control repair droids cannibalising human beings. I know that this is familiar, but I just can't seem to place it."

"How would you kill me?" The cyborg tilted his head.

"Sister Ship of the Madame De Pompadour. No, not getting it."

"How would you kill me?" The cyborg repeated.

"Why don't you have a drink first?" He gestured to the two glasses of whiskey, "It's only human."

"I am not human."

"Neither are we," he shrugged, getting up and joining the cyborg by the window, glancing down as they flew of St Pauls Cathedral. "What do you think of the view?"

"I do not think of it." The Doctors attention was pulled back to the cyborg.

"I don't think of it." He mocked, "I don't. Droids and apostrophes, I could write a book. Except you are barely a droid any more. There's more human in you than machine. So tell me, what do you think of the view?"

The cyborg glanced down as the headed towards Westminster, "It is beautiful."

"It's just far away." The Doctor shook his head, "Everything looks too small. I prefer it down there. Everything is huge. Everything is so important. Every detail, every moment, every life clung to."

"How could you kill me?" The cyborg asked him.

"For the same reason that you're asking me that question, because you don't really want to carry on. What'll happen to the other droids when you die? You're the control node, aren't you? Presumably they'll deactivate. And stop killing my friends." Clara was down there, unarmed, left with only three to protect her. Probably not the wisest thing to leave her down there.

"I will not die. I will reach the promised land."

"There isn't any promised land!" He huffed, "This is just. It's a superstition that you have picked up from all the humanity you've stuffed inside yourself."

"I am not dead."

"You are a broom." The Doctor sighed, frustrated, "Question. You take a broom, you replace the handle, and then later you replace the brush, and you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer?" He snapped his fingers at Raven who blinked.

"No?" She frowned.

"Exactly! But you can still sweep the floor. Which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part. You have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There's not a trace of the original you left. You probably can't even remember where you got that face from..." He frowned, he himself knew he had seen his new face before, but he couldn't remember where. He picked up a reflected silver plate eying his reflection unaware of Raven frowning at him before he handed it to the cyborg who looking at his reflection before dropping it to the floor.

"It cannot end." The cyborg stated.

"It has to. You know it does. And there's only one way out." He let out a heavy sigh, moving to the doors and opening them, looking down at the city.

The cyborg joined him, "Self-destruction is against my basic programme."

"And murder is against mine."

"You are stronger than you look." The cyborg eyed him.

"And I'm hoping you are too. This is over. Are you capable of admitting that?"

"Do you have it in you to murder me?"

"Those people down there." The Doctor murmured, "They're never small to me. Don't make assumptions about how far I will go to protect them, because I've already come a very long way. And unlike you, I don't expect to reach the promised land." He rubbed his face, "You realise, of course, one of us is lying about our basic programming."

"Yes." He nodded.

"And I think we both know who that is."

They stared each other down, neither backing away… moment later the cyborg let himself fall out the doorway, falling towards the ground before he was impaled on a spire on top of a building.

"Wasn't expecting that." Raven murmured, staring down at the cyborg, having moved closer as they spoke.

Perhaps he really was desperate to be human he would die rather that live forever.

~.~

The Time Lords had gone straight back to the TARDIS once they had landed. Trusting that Vastra would bring Clara back, allowing her to change into her usual clothes again, out of those horrible period clothes.

Speaking of period clothes…Raven was currently leaning against the wall opposite the wardrobe, the Doctor trying to find clothes more him.

"Oh that gastly!" Raven cried, horrified as they Doctor stepped out of the wardrobe where she stood waiting for him to step out for her opinion.

"Too much," he glanced down before signing and heading back to get changed leaving Raven outside waiting again.

"How about this," he stepped out again barely 5 minutes later in a white button up shirt, black pants and boots with a dark blue coat, only the top button done up.

She nodded, "simple. Works. We should probably head to the console room. I doubt Clara would be happy to enter and no one's there."

"Yes," he agreed, "quite."

As soon as they had entered the Doctor had imputed a command to change the console room, randomising it for a nice surprise.

"You redecorated." Clara blinked as she entered, moments after the Time Lords did from the other side of the room.

"Oooh!" Raven smiled at the new room. It was a lot cosier now, less like a machine, an upper lever with a small library with an armchair for added comfort, a few roundels on the wall. She rushed up, skimming the selection of books before flopping into the chair, testing it, "this is very nice..." She sighed, relaxing.

"I don't like it." Clara joked, recalling the 10th Doctor had said that to the previous console.

"Not completely entirely convinced myself." He admitted, looking around the room himself, "I think there should be more round things on the walls. I used to have lots of round things. I wonder where I put them?" He sighed, knowing they'd be archived somewhere, "I'm the Doctor. I've lived for over 2000 years, and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time that I did something about that." He set the TARDIS in motion, shoving his hands in her pants pocket, revealing the red lining inside his coat, "What do you think?" He asked her, spinning on the spot.

She smiled at him, but had to ask, "Who put that advert in the paper?"

"Who gave you my number?" He countered, "A long time ago, remember? You were given the number of a computer helpline, and you ended up phoning the TARDIS. Who gave you that number?"

"The woman. The woman in the shop."

"Then there's a woman out there who's very keen that we stay together."

"Why?"

"No idea," he shrugged.

Clara nodded slowly when her mobile rang, "you'd better get that." The Doctor remarked.

She frowned at him before turning her back for a bit of privacy as she answered, she would have gone outside, but she wasn't sure if they had landed or not. She'd seen him at the console, silently sending them away from Victorian London, but hadn't felt them land.

"It's me."

Her heart almost stopped at the previous Doctors voice, "Doctor?"

"I'm phoning you from Trenzalore. From before I changed. I mean it's all still to happen for me. It's coming. Oh, it's a-coming. Not long now. I can feel it."

"Why are you phoning me?" She asked.

"Because I think it's going to be a whopper, and I think you might be scared. And however scared you are, Clara, the man you are with right now, the man I hope you are with, believe me, he is more scared than anything you can imagine right now and he, he needs you."

"Doctor," she smiled softly, "it's fine, really. Raven…well you can guess."

"Do they get on?" He asked her, chuckling lightly, just knowing Raven would have a few words to say, "Is he treating her well? She's not too much for him is she?"

"No, they're…" she glanced back to see the Doctor at the console and Raven still in the armchair, "they're good. I mean…its Raven."

"Is she still going with the insults?"

"Yeah."

"Please tell me I didn't get old at least," he pleaded, "Anything but old. I was young. Oh, is he grey?"

She giggled, of course he'd complain about being grey, "Yes."

"Clara…take care of them. Both of them. Please."

"I promise."

"Goodbye, Clara. Miss ya."

"'I'll miss you too. See you in a few." She offered as he hung up and she put her phone away, looking at the new Doctor, "thank you."

"For what?" He frowned.

"Phoning?" She shrugged, "I know not many companions would get a goodbye like that. It...it means a lot..." She stepped up and hugged him.

Only for him to hold up his arms to avoid touching her.

"What is it?" She pulled back.

"I don't think I'm a hugging person now." He admitted.

"Seriously?" Raven looked down at him, eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Not my fault!" he defended.

"So where now?" Clara asked, amused by the pair.

"Coffee?" He suggested. "I think..." He checked the monitor, "Glasgow."

"Makes sense," Clara nodded, nudging him, "Scottish."

"You're paying." Raven called as she headed down to join them at the console.

"I don't have any money." He reminded her.

"You're fetching then," Clara crossed her arms.

"I'm not the fetching type…"

"Useless!" Raven tutted.

"Well you pay then." The Doctor rounded on her.

"With what money?" she mocked.

"Oh you know what…" Clara huffed, "I'll just pay."

It was better than listening to them argue all the time.

~.~

In a bright garden, the cyborg awoke with a start, sitting straight up in his chair before a small white patio overlooking a fountain where a woman in purple Edwardian clothing was sat at the edge, her dark hair pulled back in an elegant bun, her make up as sinister as her grin.

"Hello," she greeted, moving over "I'm Missy. You made it," she sat on the chair opposite him, where a pot of tea sat, "I hope my darling daughter wasn't to mean to you."

"Who?" the cyborg tilted his head at her.

"Now, did she push you or did you fall? I do hope it's the former. She never understood how proud I am of her," She sighed heavily, "I do like her carer's new accent though. I think I might keep it…"

"Where am I?"

"Where do you think you are?" she stood and twirled around the garden, "Look around you. You made it. The promised land. Paradise." She danced around the fountain, laughing, "Welcome to heaven."


	5. Into the Dalek

Raven spat out her tea as soon as she took a sip, grimacing at the taste of Earl Gray from the take away cup.

"Urgh!" She moaned, "I said Peppermint tea!" She set it back down the table besides the armchair. She had claimed the chair as her own. No one else seemed that bothered about it.

"Oops," the Doctor shrugged as he set the two take away cups of coffee on the console as he sent them off.

"You did that on purpose!" She sneered.

"Yes I did." He nodded.

She paused at how he so simply agreed that he had gotten her the tea she hated on purpose, "...why?"

"Too see if you'd throw it over my head again."

"Ooh." She used to do that on the Valiant. Every time she requested a tea and she was given any other kind, even one she liked, she used to pour the boiling drink over someone's head. She poured it on the Doctors most of all after he pleaded with her to stop with the humans. They had been his companions family. And she had treated them like dirt. "I knew dad wouldn't give me shit if I treated everyone how he treated them."

"I know." He looked over at her. He wanted to ensure that what she had previously done wasn't now embedded in her head as something she would have to do, "glad you're still not doing it."

"Right..." she eyed him, not quite sure why he was grinning like a madman for such a little thing. And absentmindedly took a sip from the cup again, "damn it!" She grimaced, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Screw it..." she set the cup back down, joining him at the console and stealing the other cup, another coffee the same as the Doctor that was for Clara, and took a sip.

They'd gone to fetch the coffee, Clara giving them the money, when the Doctor had gotten distracted and they'd ended up disappearing, forgetting about the coffees but Raven had pointed out they had abandoned her over the other side of the isle, far away from her home, and so the Doctor set the coordinates for 3 minutes after they left, locking onto the woman so they didn't have to wander and find her.

When the alarms blared.

The Doctor rushed to the monitor as Raven slowly followed, no idea what the alarm was for. The TARDIS had picked up a ship signal distress, the monitor showing a Dalek ship chasing a smaller, badly damaged as it tried to escape through rocks and debris. There was two life signs on board, one very weak...before it went out.

The Doctor raced around the console, they could at least save the other one, "incoming guest." He warned as a young woman in army garb faded into view on the console floor, rubbing her head.

"You'll probably feel a bit sick," the Doctor called to her, "Please, don't be."

But the woman scrambled to her feet at their voices, her weapon aimed, "Where's my brother?"

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. And that is Raven you're pointing your gun at," the Doctor added, "for your own safety..." He gestured to lower the gun.

She didn't, "He was right beside me. Where's Kai? How did I get here?"

"Er...he's dead." Raven stated bluntly.

"I materialised a time capsule exactly round you and saved your life one second before your ship exploded."

"My brother's just died!" The woman cried.

"His sister didn't. You're very welcome. Please, put the gun down."

"Or what?" she challenged.

"Or you might shoot us. Then where will you be?"

"In charge of your vessel."

The Doctor chuckled at that, "You'd starve to death trying to find the light switch."

"We gave you are names, it's only polite you give us yours, is it not?" Raven stared at her.

"Lieutenant Journey Blue," she answered, "of the Combined Galactic Resistance. I demand you take me back to my command ship, the Aristotle, which is currently located."

"No." He pointed at her, but Raven had already moved to the console, "Hey, not like that." She paused on inputting her command, waiting.

"You will take me back to my command ship, which is currently positioned..."

"No, no. Come on. Not like that. Not like that. Get it right."

She hesitated, slowly lowering her gun, "Will you take me back to my ship? Please?"

"The Aristotle's the big fella parked in the asteroid belt, yeah?" the Doctor asked, joining Raven at the console.

"It's shielded." She warned.

"Yeah, so is the TARDIS." Raven waved her off.

~.~

They landed with a thump tucked away in a corner of the hanger as Journey stepped out, surprised they had gotten her to her ship.

She turned to thank her pilots only to stare seeing their ship was only a small blue box.

"It's smaller on the outside." She gasped.

"Really?" Raven muttered, "I hadn't noticed."

"Raven..." the Doctor mumbled, warning her. "It's a bit more exciting when you go the other way." The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and he looked around the place, "This isn't a battleship. Medical insignia. It's a hospital."

A man with a greying beard approached them, flanked with soldiers on either side, "We don't need hospitals now. The Daleks don't leave any wounded, and we don't take any prisoners."

"We saved your little friend here," the Doctor told him, nodding to Journey, "if that's in any way relevant to mention."

"That's true, sir. They did."

"Well then, thank you." He nodded to them.

"You're welcome." The Doctor nodded.

"I will forever be forever grateful," the man continued, "However, the security of this base is absolute. So we're still going to kill you."

"Oh, it's a roller coaster with you, isn't it?" The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Shoot them, bag them and throw them outside."

"Oh really?" Raven sighed, more amused than anything. It was just a typical human thing to do.

"Uncle," Journey stepped closer to him, "He's a doctor. And we have a patient, don't we, Uncle?"

The man sighed, eying them, "if you can help us then...we can negotiate your departure," he offered as the Doctor rolled his eyes. "This way," he turned and led them through the hanger and down a corridor.

"Why does a hospital need a doctor?" The Doctor inquired as they followed.

"The Aristotle wasn't always hidden." He explained, "The Daleks got here before us."

"You don't like soldiers much, do you?" Journey glanced at him.

"You don't need to be liked." The Doctor muttered, "You've got all the guns."

Their conversation trailed off as they entered a lavatory and by 'trailed off' was more interrupted as Raven gasped at the large clear tube to the side, allowing them to see the benches inside.

"Is that moleculon nanoscaler?" She breathed.

"You know what it does, then?" The man eyed them.

"It miniaturises living matter," she stated in a breath. "Think what you could do with it."

"Raven..." the Doctor sighed.

"Sorry."

"What's the medical application, though?" He wondered, "Do you use it to shrink the surgeons so they can climb inside the patients?"

"Exactly." He nodded.

"Fantastic idea for a movie." The Doctor continued, "Terrible idea for a proctologist."

"Are you going to miniaturise us?" Raven asked, almost excited for the process.

"He might be." He nodded to the Doctor. "he's a doctor, isn't he?"

"Yeah, and I'm sort of…" Raven trailed, trying to think of the right words to say that didn't make it seem like she clung to the Doctors side while also wanting an excuse to be miniaturised. She couldn't think of a word. "Look," she shook her head, "if he gets miniaturised, so do I. If I don't go, neither does he."

"You really want to be miniaturised don't you?" the Doctor asked Raven quietly as Journeys uncle led them off again, his patience with the pair of them fading and he just wanted them to do their job with their patient.

"So much," she sighed, staring longingly at the modular behind them.

"And this is your patient." Journeys uncle opened a set of steel doors to see a Dalek heavily chained up.

The Doctor pulled Raven behind him as the Dalek look up at them, the girl freezing at the sight of it, "you can't put us in there!" He shook his head, "absolutely not."

"Doctor?" The Dalek asked.

"How do you know who I am?" The Doctor demanded.

"He doesn't." Journeys uncle assured, "We promised him medical assistance."

"Are you my doctor?" The Dalek continued.

"We found it floating in space." Journey explained.

"We thought it was deactivated," her uncle continued, "so we tried to disassemble it."

"You didn't realise there was a living creature inside." The Doctor muttered.

"Not till it started screaming." Journey agreed.

"Help me."

The Doctor turned to the Dalek at that, "Why would I do that? Why would any living creature help you?"

"Daleks will die."

"Die all you like. Not my problem."

"Daleks must be destroyed."

Raven frowned at that, "Daleks MUST be destroyed?"

"All Daleks must die. I will destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks. Destroy the Daleks!"

They shared a glance at that.

A Dalek wanting to destroy other Daleks.

That was new.

~.~

Raven smirked hearing a gasp outside the TARDIS, they had locked onto Clara and gone to get her, planning for 3 minutes after she last saw them, he'd done it wrong, it was 3 weeks not 3 minutes and the woman was back at work at Coal Hill. She perked up, hoping to hear a slap but the door opened as the Doctor walked in, followed by Clara, the girl seemingly irritated.

"Where the hell have you been?" Clara hissed.

"You sent us for coffee." He deadpanned.

"3 weeks ago. In Glasgow."

"3 weeks, that's a long time."

"In Glasgow. That's dead in a ditch."

"Why were you smiling?" The Doctor changed the topic.

"Was I? No I wasn't."

"Yes you were," Raven shook her head.

"What is it gang up on a human day?" Clara huffed.

"Well..." The Doctor began.

"Every day is gang up on a human day." Raven stated.

"Ha ha." Clara rolled her eyes, "So where are we going?"

"Into darkness," he answered, long a lever to send them off, "but first, Clara," he turned to face her, "I need you to be honest and cold and considered, without kindness or restraint. Clara, be my pal and tell me, am I a good man?"

"I... I don't know." She began carefully, "but you have been many times in the past. But I don't know THIS you very well yet. What did Raven say?"

"I don't dare ask her." He grumbled as the girl winked.

"So what's brought this on?" Clara shook her head.

"We..." Raven swallowed, "ran into a Dalek."

"A Dalek?" Her eyes widened.

"A...good Dalek."

"A good Dalek?" She never heard that before.

"There's no such thing," the Doctor scoffed. They both knew it but it was the easiest way to explain it to her.

"That's not like you. I'd almost say prejudiced."

"Do I pay you?" The Doctor sighed, moving to take them back to the Aristotle, "I should give you a raise."

"I deserve a raise before her," Raven frowned, "I have to put up with you more."

"I give you a place to stay." He countered.

"I make sure you eat."

"You're not my boss," Clara cut on before the Doctor could give another reason why he would win the argument. She had bets on Raven, "you're one of my hobbies."

"Come on." The Doctor sighed, setting them down and leading them back out where Journey waited for them.

"That was quick." She blinked.

"This is gun girl," the Doctor explained to Clara, "she's got a gun and she's a girl."

"Journey." Raven mumbled the woman's name to Clara.

"This is the sort of boss one." He gestured to her uncle, "Are you the same one as before?"

"Yes." He glared.

"I don't know his name." Raven muttered to Clara.

"Morgan." He said.

"There you go." She didn't really care. She just knew Clara would eventually ask.

"I think he's probably her uncle," the Doctor continued, "This is Clara, not my assistant. She's, er..."

"I'm his carer." She offered.

"Yes! She's my carer but Raven is under my care. She cares so I don't have too."

~.~

"Doctor!" The Dalek called as they entered its room again.

"Hello again." He replied, grim.

"Will you help me?"

"A Dalek so damaged, it's turned good. Morality as malfunction. How do I resist?"

"Daleks must die" the Dalek cried, "Daleks must die."

"So, what do we do with a moral Dalek, then?" Clara asked.

"We get into its head." The Doctor remarked.

"How do you get into a Dalek's head?"

"That wasn't a metaphor..." Raven trailed.

~.~

The Doctor and Raven stood in the room with the nanoscaler, the man scanning the bands now clipped to their wrists to check they were fully function as Journey clipped one to Clara, explaining the 'mission' to her.

He looked up to see two other soldier entering, "what are those ones for? I don't need babysitters."

"We're not baby-sitters." The woman glared.

"We're here to shoot you dead if you turn out to be a Dalek spy." The man agreed.

"Well, that's a relief." The Doctor remarked, "I hate baby-sitters."

Raven snorted, very close to saying he definitely needed a baby sitter, but at the glare he sent her, she kept quiet, raising her hands, admitting he knew what she was thinking.

"Ok, listen up." Journey called, "Now, remember, do not hold your breath when the nanoscaler engages." She opened its doors to let them all in, "You'll feel like you want to, but you must keep breathing normally during the miniaturisation process."

"Why?" Clara frowned, sliding into the back on one bench, Raven next to her, despite no grin on her face they could feel her excitement and the Doctor next to her with the three soldiers sitting on the bench opposite.

"Ever microwaved a lasagne without pricking the film on top?" The Doctor asked her.

"It explodes."

"Don't be lasagne."

"Wise words to live by," Raven smirked.

They looked up as Morgan spoke in the comms, "Nanoscaler engaging in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Nanoscaler engaging now."

"Nanoscaling in progress." The computer announced as a crossbeam passed over the chamber, all of them focusing on their breathing as they shrunk down, "Namoscaling complete."

"Nanoscaling successful." Morgan called, "Everyone on in there?"

"We made it." Journey nodded as they braced themselves as they were picked up by a set of tweezers. "Nobody popped."

"Whoa. Ha. I can't believe this." Clara breathed as they travelled by tweezer and were injected into the Daleks eye piece.

"No, neither can I." The Doctor agreed. The capsule stilled, he reached for the door to see the blue fluid-like wall of the Daleks eye stalk before them. He cautiously reached out to it, making it wobble before he stepped through, the image distorting as he helped pull Raven through as Raven took Clara's hand as she followed them.

"We'll be following you all the way, Rescue One." Morgan called over the comm, "Good luck all of you."

"If my father knew what you were putting me through!" Raven hissed.

"I know," he sighed. The man would kill him. Multiple times, "sorry." He added.

He had offered her to stay in the TARDIS, but she had refused, if Clara could go. So could she. And she really wanted to be shrunk down.

"But this is actually pretty cool."

"Really?" Clara looked at her for that. "I'd say weird." Clara shivered as they stepped out into the stalk of the Dalek.

"You've seen nothing yet." The Doctor muttered, the small group walking down the stalk, small pulses of light racing along the edges.

"What are the lights?" she frowned.

"Visual impulses travelling towards the brain." He answered, "Welcome to the most dangerous place in the universe."

"Entering the cranial ledge now." Journey reported to her uncle as they walked out of the tunnel and into a ledge of some sort. "Here."

"Oh, my God." Clara grimaced at the tentacled blob in the middle of the casing where the organic Dalek sat, cables running down from it.

"Behold, the belly of the beast." The Doctor sighed looking down at the Dalek below.

"It's huge." The male soldier breathed.

"No, Ross." His female partner corrected, "We're tiny."

"So how big is it," Clara wondered, "that living part, compared to me and you, right now?"

"You see all those cables?" The Doctor pointed down over the ledge, at the cables.

"Yeah."

"They're not all cables." Raven stated darkly.

"Does it know we're here?" Ross whispered.

"It's what invited us in." Journey reasoned.

"Now, this is the cortex vault," the Doctor explained, "a supplementary electronic brain. Memory banks, but more than that. This is what keeps the Dalek pure."

"How are Daleks pure?" The female soldier scoffed.

"Dalek mutants are born hating." Raven stated, a dark tone in her voice as she glared down over the ledge.

"This is what stokes the fire," the Doctor added, sending her a concerned glance. She hadn't really dealt with Daleks before, on Trenzalore they were only really focused on him and the townsfolk. And so with her in the clocktower so often they paid her no attention but now she was shrunken down and inside the casing. As much as she said she wanted to come, he knew she was starting to regret her decision. "Extinguishes even the tiniest glimmer of kindness or compassion. Imagine the worst possible thing in the universe, then don't bother, because you're looking at it right now. This is evil refined as engineering."

"Doctor?" the Daleks voice called, echoing around them.

"Oh, hello, Rusty." The Doctor responded, "You don't mind if I call you Rusty? We're going to need to come down there with you. Medical examination, and all that."

"What, with those tentacles and things?" the female solider frowned, looking down the edge below.

"How close do we have to get?" Journey asked.

"Well, you know, we're never going to insert a thermometer from up here." The Doctor rolled his eyes at them.

Journey nodded, giving Ross the signal the man turning and firing a harpoon into the ledge.

"What are you DOING?" Raven snapped at him, "you stupid ape!"

"Stop, you idiot!" even the Doctor had to agree.

But Ross just fired another harpoon.

"We need a way down," Journey countered, "the only way…"

"This is a Dalek, not a machine!" the Doctor shouted, "It's a perfect analogue of a living being, and you just hurt it. So what's going to happen now?"

"Oh, God." Clara gasped. She may be an English teacher, not a science teacher but even she knew how the body fought of attacks.

"What?" the female soldier turned to her, "What is it?"

"Antibodies?"

"Dalek antibodies." The Doctor nodded, his gaze ahead of them as little dark spheres floated through the air towards them, what looked like a camera lens in one side. "Nobody move," the Doctor warned, "Any attempt to help him, or attack those things, will identify you as a secondary source of infection. Stay still!"

"But the Dalek wants us in here." Clara whispered, staring in horror as the spheres surrounded Ross, "Why is it attacking?"

"They're antibodies." Raven commented, "They react without a conscious thought. Even in a Dalek."

"Ross, stay calm." Journey called to him, "We're going to get you out of this."

"Can you?" Clara asked the Doctor, missing Ravens eye roll at the idea.

Once the antibodies locked on, there was no saving you.

"Ross," he called to him, tossing a small pill to him, "swallow that."

"What is it?" Ross eyed it.

"Trust me." The Doctor offered.

He swallowed it only for the antibodies to aim a painful bright beam at him, disintegrating him, before sucking its remains.

"The hoovering." The Doctor aimed the sonic up, "Gotcha."

"What did you give him?" Clara breathed.

"Oh, just a spare power cell," the Doctor muttered, "but I can track the radiation signature. I need to know where they dump the bodies."

"I thought you were saving him." Journey glared.

"He was dead already." Raven stated, glaring back at the woman, "it was him or all of us."

"Follow me and run!" the Doctor called, grabbing Ravens hand as they ran. He could see it, see it clearly as she stared as Ross disintegrated unblinking, she was slipping back into a dark place…and he wouldn't allow it. Just being in the Dalek was affecting her badly, he could see it in her eyes. They ran down the halls, the antibodies following as they came to a stop at a hole in the ledge. "They've dumped him in here. Organic refuse disposal. We need to get in there."

"Why?" Clara shook her head.

"Those antibodies won't give up until we're inside there. I'd rather go in alive than dead."

"You don't know where it goes." Journey shouted as she and the other soldier fired at the incoming antibodies.

"Yes, I do. Away from here. Now in. In! In!" he ushered Clara down first, "Raven!" he tugged her back, seeing her staring as the soldier fired, "in!"

"But I wanna see if they'll die." She pouted.

"Raven! In! Now!" he ordered.

She blinked slowly at him for his raised volume before sighing and dropping down after Clara and into a pool of green liquid at the bottom.

The two soldiers quickly followed, the Doctor sliding down last.

"What is this stuff?" Clara gagged at the smell. She was dreading the answer especially if Raven answered.

"People." She answered and Clara grimaced. Yeah she didn't want to know. "I am going to need a week long shower after this."

"The Daleks need protein," the Doctor continued, "occasionally, they harvest from their victims. This is a feeding tube…"

"Is Ross here?" Journey swallowed, just thinking about it.

"Top layer, if you want to say a few words."

Journey lashed at that, shoving the man against the wall, "a man has just died. You will not talk like that."

"A lot of people have died. Everything in here is dead, and do you know why that's good?"

"There is nothing good about that."

"Nobody guards the dead," Raven murmured, as she and Clara hoped onto the ledge above the pool, "the antibodies won't registered that we're alive."

"Mortuaries and larders, always the easiest to break out of." The Doctor agreed, noticing the hatch besides them on the ledge, "Ah ha! A bolt hole." He ushered the girls aside as he used to the sonic to unscrew the bolts.

"He'll get us out of here." Clara told them, "The difficult part is not killing him before he can."

"Bolt hole. Actually, a hole for a bolt. Does nobody get that?"

"That was a flipping terrible pun!" Raven shook her head.

"What was wrong with it?"

"It came from your mouth!"

"Oi! Watch it," he warned, as Raven crawled through the tunnel first, "decontamination tubes are hot." He followed Raven, Clara behind him as the soldiers followed.

"Rescue One to Mission Control." Journey called in her comm. "The Dalek has an internal defence mechanism. We've lost Ross." She fell silent at her uncles response, "Yeah, well, who knows? It's a Dalek. We're going to continue the mission."

"Are you all right back there?" He called over his shoulder to Clara, "It's a bit narrow, isn't it?"

"Any remarks about my hips will not be appreciated." She grumbled.

"Fair enough."

~.~

They crawled out of the tunnel, into the next room, only to hear a static sound. "You…" the Doctor spun to the female soldier whose name they didn't know, "What's that noise? Are you wearing a Geiger counter?"

"Standard battle equipment." She nodded to the device on her utility belt, "That's just low level radiation."

"But stronger down here, for some reason," the Doctor mused, "Gimme." He snatched the counter from the woman and scanned it around over the circuits where it set off, "I've got it. I know what's wrong with Rusty."

"Ok, that's good." Clara nodded only to frown, "Is that good?"

"Well," he shrugged, tossing the counter back to the woman, "you know how I said this was the most dangerous place in the universe? I was wrong. It's way more dangerous than that."

"Colonel, We have radiation indicators red-lining in here." Journey called down her comm, "Could be that the Dalek is badly damaged than we thought."

"Old Rusty here is suffering a trionic radiation leak. It's poisoning the Dalek and us. Just as well we're here."

"Really? Perhaps we should get out while we can." Journey suggested, "Why should we trust a Dalek? Why would it change?"

"Good question." The Doctor agreed, "Rusty? What changed you?"

"I saw beauty." It replied echoing above them.

"You saw what?" Raven frowned. The Daleks concept of beauty was hatred.

"In the silence and the cold, I saw worlds burning."

"That's not beauty, that's destruction." Journey shook her head.

So Daleks concept of beauty then.

"I saw more."

"What did you see?" the Doctor asked it.

"The birth of a star."

"Stars are born every day." Raven shook her, "You've seen a million stars born. So what? You've also destroyed just as many."

"Oh, millions and millions," the Doctor agreed bitterly, "Trust me, I keep count."

"And yet, new stars are born." Rusty stated.

"Every time."

"Resistance is futile."

"Resistance to what?"

"Life returns. Life prevails. Resistance is futile."

"So you saw a star being born, and you learned something." The Doctor murmured, "Oh, Dalek, do not be lying to me. Come on." He turned and led them on again, "we need to get to The Trionic power cells."

~.~

"Heading for the Trionic power cells, colonel," Journey reported as they headed up directly under the mutant Dalek.

"We're at the heart of the Dalek." The Doctor remarked.

"Geiger counter's off the scale," the woman soldier gasped at the readings, "Looks like it's about to blow."

"Good." The Doctor nodded.

"How is that good?" Journey shot him a look.

"He likes to work under pressure." Raven remarked, shoving her hands in her pockets..

"Rusty, can you hear me?" The Doctor called to him.

"Doctor?"

"Rusty, we've found the damage. I'm sealing up the breach in your power cell." He flashed the sonic at a crack in the power cell, sealing it, "No more radiation poisoning. Good as new. There. Job done."

"That's it?" Clara blinked, "Just like that?"

"An anti-climax once in a while is good for my hearts." He patted his chest, "Rusty? How do you feel? Rusty?" He frowned at the Dalek was silent, "Rusty?"

"The malfunction is corrected." It stated.

"What's happened?" Journey breathed.

"Not entirely sure." He admitted as lights lit up.

"It's like it's waking up."

"Rusty?" Raven took a breath as she spoke to the Dalek herself, if her father knew what she got up to these days…he would not be impressed, "what's going on?"

"The malfunction is corrected." It stated, "All systems are functioning. Weapons charged."

"Oh, no, no, no." The Doctor moaned shaking his head.

"Exterminate!" Rusty cried, "Exterminate!"

"Oh, Rusty…" Raven shook her head.

"Exterminate!" They group were thrown around as Rusty suddenly began to move with them inside.

"The Daleks will be victorious," Rusty shouted, "The rebels will be exterminated."

"Colonel?" Journey gasped into her comm, "What's happening out there?" But there was no reply.

"Daleks don't turn good." The Doctor shook his head, "It was just radiation affecting its brain chemistry, nothing more than that. No miracle."

"Let me get this straight." Journey huffed, clearly irritated, "We had a good Dalek, and we made it bad again? That's all we've done?"

"There was never a good Dalek." Raven muttered, bitter, for a moment, for one naive moment she had thought that there was a possibility of a good Dalek. How wrong she had been, "There was a broken Dalek and we repaired it."

"You were supposed to be helping us!" she snapped.

"Snap at me and I'll gorge your eyes out!" she threatened, stepping closer to the woman.

"Raven!" the Doctor snapped his fingers at her before turning to Journey, ""we gave it a shot. It didn't work out. It was a Dalek, what did you expect?"

"No more talking. You are done! Ok, new objective. We are taking this Dalek down."

"Are we going to die in here?" Clara breathed, "And a little bit of you," she shook her head at him, "You're almost pleased."

"Don't you see?" He gestured around, "Daleks don't turn good. Daleks are evil. Irreversibly so."

"We need to place these charges for maximum effect." Journey turned to her soldier, "I'm going to scan the rest of the architecture for weaknesses."

"Why did we come here today? What was the point? You. You thought there was a good Dalek. What difference would one good Dalek make?"

"All the difference in the universe, but it's impossible."

"Is that really what we learnt?"

The Doctor frowned at her, unsure what she was trying to say before his eyes widened, grinning, "You!" he pointed at Journey, "Whatever you're going to do, don't do it. This Dalek must not be destroyed. We can do better."

"Are you out of your mind?" Journey demanded.

"No, I'm inside a Dalek. I'm standing where I've never been. We cannot waste this chance. It won't come again."

"What chance? I have my orders."

"Soldiers take orders."

"And I'm a soldier." She nodded.

"A Dalek is a better soldier than you will ever be. You can't win this way."

She held a grenade ready to pull before lowering it, frustrated, "So what do we do?"

"Something better." He grinned.

~.~

"The Dalek isn't just some angry blob in a Dalekanium tank." The Doctor remarked as they climbed a ladder up closer to the organic proton of the Dalek, "If it was, the radiation would have turned it into a raging lunatic."

"It is a raging lunatic," Journey deadpanned, "it's a Dalek."

"But for a moment, it wasn't. The radiation allowed it to expand its consciousness, to consider things beyond its natural terms of reference. It became good. That means a good Dalek is possible. That's what we learnt, eh, Clara?"

"Top of the class." She cheered.

"But now it's back to how it was." Journey pointed out.

"What it saw and felt is still in its cortex vault!" Raven realised.

"Exactly!" He snapped his fingers at her. "Every memory recorded. Some suppressed, but all still intact. We need to show the Dalek that star being born again. Recreate that moment. You," he pointed to Clara, "need to get up there, find that moment and reawaken it."

"Me?" Clara blinked.

"Yes, you." He nodded as though she had been the one to suggest it, "Good idea."

"How?"

"Haven't the foggiest. Do a clever thing. And then once you've done it, the Dalek will be suggestible to new ideas. It will be open again. And we will show it something that will change its mind forever."

"Er, we?" Raven frowned.

"Yes we."

"Right." She nodded. Apparently she was going with him then.

"This is crazy," Journey exclaimed, "There is no way that we can get back up there in time."

"Yes, there is." The woman soldier argued, holding up her harpoon.

"No, Gretchen. It'll bring the antibodies back down on us."

"Tell me the truth," she turned to Clara, "Is he mad, or is he right? I've come this far. Probably going to die anyway. Wouldn't mind something to do for the rest of my life. Is he mad, or is he right?"

"Hand on my heart?" Clara placed a hand on her chest, "Most days he's both. But I trust him with my life," she said honestly.

The Doctor blinked, touched at that.

"One question, then." Gretchen turned to him, "Is this worth it?"

"If I can turn one Dalek, I can turn them all." He offered her, "I can save the future."

"Gretchen Alison Carlisle. Do something good and name it after me."

"I will do something amazing," he swore.

"Damn well better," she nodded and ignoring Journeys yells, fired two wires up the cranial ledge.

"They're coming." Clara gasped sport g the antibodies as Journey dashed a pulley onto the wire for them both, "They're coming."

"Grab hold of the rope." Journey told her as Clara did as told, "Don't look down."

"Good luck," Raven offered, as they flew back up to the ledge.

"Come on," the Doctor murmured in Raven's ear, pulling her off as the antibodies arrived. She glanced back as Gretchen's screams reached their ears.

~.~

The Doctor reached out and helped Raven onto a catwalk like platform before the Dalek, right before its eye, the pair cautiously moving into its sight.

"Are you ok?" He asked her quietly.

She swallowed, silent, as they stood before the Dalek mutant but gave a firm nod, taking his hand in hers. He didn't mention it, but gave it a squeeze in reassurance. She hadn't really been involved in the war, was mostly kept away from the front lines, away from the worst of the war, didn't really have to deal with the Daleks, and then on Trenzalore the Doctor dealt with them. This was pretty much her first time actually having to deal with a Dalek. Suppose she'd have to get used to it.

"Well, Rusty," he turned to face it, "here we are. Eye to eye to eye."

"You cannot save the humans." It stated, "They will be exterminated. I shall join the Dalek units in the final attack!"

"We saved your life, Rusty. Now Raven and I going to go one better. We're going to save your soul."

"Daleks do not have souls."

"But imagine if you did," the Doctor murmured, "what would happen then, Rusty?"

Raven gasped, tightening her grip in the Doctors hand as a pulse of light ran down a cable into the Dalek. She quickly let go, only then realising she was holding his. How embarrassing.

He turned to see a holographic screen now behind them, "Your memories." He warned the Dalek as imagines of soldiers dying played, "I'm about to give some back to you. See, all those years ago, when I began," he looked back at the Dalek, handing Raven the sonic nodding to the tubing, "I was just running. I called myself the Doctor, but it was just a name. And then I went to Skaro. And then I met you lot and I understood who I was. The Doctor was not the Daleks." He glanced at Raven as she knelt, cutting the tubing, avoiding looking at the Dalek as she noticed more memories, she tugged on his pants leg to get his attention, mutely pointing to the screen.

He turned, seeing Dalek ships attacking the valiant from when they had stolen the Earth to try and use the reality bomb, "Oh, look. It's your memories again. It's like somebody's mucking about up there. Memories, all those memories."

Raven stood up, handing the tube to the Doctor, preparing herself, speaking directly to the Dalek, "Do you remember the star you saw being born?"

"I..." Rusty blinked, "I remember."

They both looked over to see the memory of the star replying, "You saw the truth, Rusty." The Doctor turned back to the Dalek, "Remember how you felt. You saw a star being born. The endless rebirth of the universe."

"No." It argued, trying to fight Dalek programming, seeing the star again, remembering the scarring of the radiation leak.

"And you realised the truth about the Daleks..."

"Truth? What is the truth?"

"Let me show you the truth." The Doctor clasp the cord Raven handed him in his other hand, "I've opened your mind and now I'm coming in." He pressed the two ends together, grunting, biting his tongue to prevent himself for crying out as the energy from the neurons surged through him. Raven watching in silent concern. He didn't want her to panic and worry. But then again, she never really panicked, she was rather calm and she didn't really have a reason to care if he died or not. She was just with him because she had nowhere else to go.

If he had found her at a time before Rivers death, he knew she would have said no to him. Even after River she hesitated.

"I'm part of you." He continued, "My mind is in your mind."

"I see your mind, Doctor. I see your universe."

Raven turned as the Doctors memories began to play behind them. All the planets he had visited, the people he had met. No wonder he never stayed in one place long enough. The universe really was quite beautiful.

"And isn't the universe beautiful?"

"I see beauty."

"Yes, that's good." The Doctor nodded, "That is good. Hold on to that."

"I see endless, divine perfection."

"Make it a part of you. Remember how you feel right now. Put it inside you and live by it."

"I see into your soul, Doctor. I see beauty. I see divinity...I see hatred."

Raven frowned at that, turning to the Dalek, "Hatred?"

"I see your hatred of the Daleks and it is good."

Raven spun back to the memories to see the Dalek crucible being destroyed, all those times he had encountered the Daleks and destroyed them, protecting the rest of the universe from them.

"No, no, no." The doctor shook his head, "You must see more than that, there must be more than that!"

"Doctor…" Raven gently pulled the cables apart, cutting the memories off, "Lets go. Please."

"Death to the Daleks!" Rusty shouted, "Death to the Daleks. Death to the Daleks."

"No, there must be more than that. There must be more than that. Please..." He swallowed thickly.

There HAD to be more than that. His idea of beauty couldn't be the destruction of the Daleks! He couldn't be that much like a Dalek could he?

"Daleks are evil. Daleks must be exterminated. Daleks are evil. Exterminate!"

They could see Rusty making its way through the Aristotle, destroying the Daleks, not stopping, not slowing, until they were all exterminated, "the Daleks are destroyed."

"Of course they are." The Doctor sighed, "That's what you do, isn't it?"

He dropped the wires, the pair silently heading back to find Clara.

~.~

The remaining quartet stood back on the Aristotle, the resizing process a lot more comfortable and easier than the miniaturising.

Journey had hurried to her uncle the moment she saw him, "uncle Morgan," she hugged him and for a moment he dropped his tenseness to hug her back, thankful she was safe.

"I have transmitted a retreat signal." Rusty told them as they stood before it, still a few feet away, the Doctors hands on Raven's shoulders as she stood before him, the girl not even complaining as he tried to silently comfort her.

"The Daleks will believe the humans have initiated the ship's self destruct."

"What about you, Rusty?" Clara eyed it.

"I must go with them."

"Of course you must." The Doctor sighed, "You've unfinished work, haven't you?"

"Victory is yours, but it does not please you."

"You looked inside me and you saw hatred. That's not victory. Victory would have been a good Dalek."

"I am not a good Dalek." Rusty agreed but added, "You are a good Dalek." Before rolling away.

The Doctor sent a dark look after it before turning his back on it walking back to the TARDIS, with Raven. Clara behind.

"Doctor." Journey called, rushing after them as they walked through the hanger, "Take me with you."

"I think you're probably nice." He began, "Underneath it all, I think you're kind and you're definitely brave. I just wish you hadn't been a soldier." He mumbled, "and right now I only need one companion."

And he shut the door on her, sending them off, leaving Journey to watch them fade away.

"How do I look?" Clara called, gesturing to her change of clothes. The Doctor silent by the console, with Raven back in her chair, a book open on her lap.

They had all showered and changed before decided to drop Clara back at Coal Hill. The woman having decided to change instead of waiting for her clothes to be washed and dried.

"Sort of short and round-ish, but with a good personality," the Doctor answered, sending them back to the school, "which is the main thing."

She gave him an unamused look, "I meant my clothes. I just changed."

"Ok," he pulled a lever setting them down, "you're back in the cupboard, 30 seconds after you left."

"Isn't someone going to question how you changed so quickly?" Raven frowned down at her.

Clara laughed up at her, "If someone noticed that I changed my clothes I'll buy them a drink tonight." She smiled, heading out only to pause at the door and looked back at him, "when will I see you again?"

"Oh sooner or later." He waved her off, "Just give us a dial when you get bored of those pudding brains."

"You are aware I am a pudding brain, right?" She shook her head moving to leave only to pause and look back at him, "I don't know." She told him honestly, "if you are a good man," she added seeing his confusion, "But I think you try to be and I think that's probably the point."

"I think you're probably an amazing teacher." He smiled at her.

"I think I'd better be." She smiled, casting a small glance up at Raven before stepping back into the cupboard and into the corridor outside.

The Doctor sighed, getting them back into the vortex, he needed to know. Right now he didn't care about the answer, he just needed to know. "Raven!" he called up at her, getting no reply, "Oi! Birdbrain!" only to duck as she threw her book at him for that, "it got you to answer!" he used in defence as she glared.

"What?"

"I need you to be brutally honest with me."

She sighed, getting up and leaning over the railing at him, "easy peasy."

"Do YOU think I'm a good man?"

"Sometimes…" she sighed knowing he was going to hate this. But it was the brutal truth, "sometimes I see my father in you. Just little things and I'm reminded of him. But! You try to be the better man. And so yes; to me you are a good man."

"Thank you."

**Ok, so who else actually really enjoyed that series finale, because i loved it.**


	6. Robots of Sherwood

Raven shook her head from where she sat in her armchair (because they all knew it was hers now) a book open before her with her feet tucked under her legs.

The Doctor was finishing some mathematics on a chalk board a few feet down the upper gallery from her. When the TARDIS had redecorated the board had appeared and each day new equations were there to keep the Doctor busy when being annoying (which was very often). Sometimes the equations were very easy that even Clara would probably be able to solve them, other times the Doctor even struggled with them, stumped, usually walking away and getting distracted by something else before going back to them. The equations didn't seem to change until they had been completed with the correct answer, or on the very rare ocasion (it had only happened once so far) the Doctor admitted he didn't know the answer. He had bribed Raven was a new and bigger bedroom if she promised to never tell Clara that. So far she kept her promise.

"You may want to finish you equations, Doctor." Raven said without looking up from her book, "give us some fun before Clara murders you out of boredom. I'm not against a space spa."

"That does sound good." Clara nodded slowly. She could really do with a spa one day, especially with having to deal with so many children all day. A day to relax, and likely with the Doctor wandering off elsewhere, with very little trouble, it did sound good, but never before had the Doctor given her the choice of where their next adventure should be. She didn't want to wait it on a day to a space spa when she knew eventually Raven would wear the Doctor down and he would drop them off somewhere to be pampered.

The Doctor turned and called down to Clara, "Take a punt! Your choice. Wherever, whenever, anywhere in time and space."

"Spa day." Raven hissed down to her.

"Shh," Clara hushed her, thinking for a moment, a chance to see someone or something she'd never get to see any other day, "Well, there is something, someone that I've always wanted to meet. But I know what you'll say."

"Try me."

"You'll say he's made up, that there is no such thing."

"He'll only say that if it's true." Raven pointed out.

"Or because he hates him." Clara countered.

Raven couldn't argue with that.

"Oi!" The Doctor huffed, "what is this gang up on Doctor day?"

"It's always gang up on Doctor day, and also human day."

"Right here," Clara sent her an annoyed look.

"Good for you." Raven nodded.

"Go on." The Doctor waved Clara to continue.

Honestly he wasn't sure if Raven was insulting humans as a joke just because she could and she knew that they wouldn't do anything about it. She insulted people often enough, but they were never bad enough for someone to lash out in anger.

Not yet.

It may be very soon for Clara.

Clara bit her lip, "It's Robin Hood."

"Robin Hood." He repeated.

"Yeah. I love that story. I've always loved it, ever since I was little."

"You believe in Robin Hood," Raven closed her book, marking the page with a strip of old paper, sniggering down at Clara.

Clara let out a long breath but looked at the Doctor, expectantly.

"Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw?" He confirmed as she nodded, "who robs from the rich and gives to the poor."

"Yeah." She smiled.

"He's made up," he deadpanned, "no such thing."

"Ah, you see?" She pointed at him.

"Old-fashioned heroes only exist in old-fashioned story books, Clara."

"And what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you." She grinned, "You stop bad things happening every minute of every day. That sounds pretty heroic to me."

"Just passing the time." He shrugged, "Hey, what about Mars?"

"What?!"

"The Ice Warrior Hives."

"You said it was my choice!" Clara cried.

"Or the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light. Those girls can hold their drink. And fracture fifteen different levels of reality simultaneously. I think I've got a Polaroid somewhere."

"Doctor," Raven cut in with a faint smirk, "you said it was her choice and I wanna see her face we she she's for herself that Robin Hood isn't real. And then a spa day."

"Thank you." Clara offered. As much as she just wanted to go to prove she was wrong, she had to be grateful that she was coming up in an excuse so they could go. It wasnt every day Raven sided with her, actually, she wasn't sure Raven had ever agreed with her before.

"Very well," he sighed, heading the steps to pilot, "Earth. England. Sherwood Forest. 1190AD. Ish. But you'll only be disappointed."

"Come on!" Clara raced up to the upper gallery, pulling Raven to her feet and dragging her off down one of the many corridor, "we need to change!"

"No!" The girls eyes widened in horror, tripping over her own feet as Clara pulled her off, "Clara! No!"

~.~

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS where they had landed on the grass near a stream, a log across acting like a bridge as the birds sand in the trees, the sun shining.

It was beautiful.

And completely fake.

"See Clara?" He called back into the TARDIS, hearing the girls talking as they headed back, well, he was pretty sure he was hearing faint bickering actually, "No damsels in distress, no pretty castles, no such thing as Robin Hood." As soon as he spoke an arrow slammed into the TARDIS besides him as a man dressed all in green with reddish-brown hair stepped onto the log bridge on the other side of the stream.

"You called?" the man grinned widely, "Very, very nicely done with the box, sir. I saw a Turk perform something very similar at Nottingham Fayre. It's a trick with mirrors, no doubt?"

"A trick?" The Doctor scoffed, pulling the arrow out of the box.

"A good jest." He laughed heartily, "Ha, ha!"

"This is not a trick. This is a TARDIS."

"Whatever it is, you bony rascal, I'm afraid I must relieve you of it."

"It's my property, that's what it is." He glared.

"Well, don't you know all property is theft to Robin Hood?" He bowed deeply on the log bridge, showing his bow and arrow on his back.

"You're not serious." He grumbled.

"I'm many things, sir, but I'm never that. Robin Hood laughs in the face of all." He laughed again, "Ha, ha, ha."

He sneered at the mans laughter, "And do people ever punch you in the face when you do that?"

"Not as yet."

"Lucky I'm here then, isn't it?" He took a step forwards ready to give the man a good slap.

But he had barely take two steps towards this 'Robin Hood' when Raven and Clara exited the TARDIS.

"I look ridiculous!" Raven grumbled.

"You look fine," Clara rolled her eyes, dressed in red-orange period dress, a sliver headdress over her forehead. "Doctor, tell her she looks fine."

Raven folded her arms as he looked at her outfit, clearly she hadn't been the one to choose it. Probably the TARDIS' little way of vengeance. The dress was made of a black velvet with long loose sleeves draping to her mid-thighs. The front of the dress had a large panel of dark blue with golden swirls along the front, the same colour and pattern on the hem of her sleeves and of course there was a hood that she had up covering her hair and forehead. Honestly, despite clearly not something she wanted to be wearing, it did suit her.

"You look fine." The Doctor told her.

"I was hoping a bit better than that." Clara muttered.

"I didn't choose it." Raven mumbled. It had been the TARDIS, the box, upon seeing that they needed the gowns, had shifted for the time period, allowing Clara to browse as much as she wanted but had left this dress out for her. Refusing to let her leave without wearing it, much to Clara's amusement.

The TARDIS was…ok with her. It wasn't trying to kill her after she had turned it into a paradox machine, but was clearly grumpy and kept doing little things of payback. Like choose clothes for her, or switching the sugar and salt around. And of course, there was they occasional electric shock when she was near the console, which was ridiculous as Raven was the one who actually knew how to pilot the ship correctly.

But she did deserve. She deserved way worse.

"I like the hood." He added.

"By all the saints." The Doctor heard Robin breath behind him, "are there any more in there?"

They turned to see a man bearing a striking resemblance to Robin Hood.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Raven gaped.

"...Is that?" Clara gushed.

"No." The Doctor deadpanned.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God! It is, isn't it? You found him. You actually found Robin Hood!"

"It can't be." Raven shook her head. Robin Hood was a legend, a story. He wasn't real. He couldn't be.

"That is not Robin Hood." The Doctor agreed.

"Well then, who, sir, is about to relieve you of your magic box?" Robin asked, drawing his sword.

"Oh here we go…" Raven groaned.

"Nobody, sir." The Doctor glared stalking into the bridge himself, "Not in this universe or the next."

"Didn't Raven take the TARDIS once?" Clara just had to call him out.

"Oh really?" Raven huffed at her as the Doctor just looked over at them, exasperated, almost expecting them two to start fighting.

"Well then, draw your sword and prove your words." Robin Hood continued, not allowing the girls to allow him to be distracted again the old fool before him.

"I have no sword. I don't need a sword." The Doctor rummaged into his coat pocket, placing a glove on his hand, holding a certain finger to the man making Raven smirk at the action, "Because I am the Doctor." And pulled out his yogurt spoon, "And this is my spoon. En garde!" And lunged at the man who stepped back as he blocked.

"You're amazing!" Clara laughed, watching the men fight.

"I've had some experience." He admitted, "Richard the Lionheart. Cyrano de Bergerac. Errol Flynn. He had the most enormous..." He glared as Robin knocked one of his coat buttons off. He held his arms wide, the man not hesitating to make his move as the Doctor turned so they were back to back before nudging his bottom with Robins sending him into the stream.

"That was…not bad." Raven admitted.

"Would you even say spectacular?" he grinned at her.

"No." she shook her head making him pout.

"Where did he go?" Clara frowned, glancing into the water for the man.

The Doctor leaned over the water to find the man claiming to be Robin Hood…when the man quickly resurfaced and pulled the Doctor in himself, leaving him soaking in the water, grumpy.

"I stand corrected," Raven smirked down at the Doctor as she climbed back out of the stream, a phone in her hand having snapped a quick picture, "that was spectacularly hilarious!"

"Delete that picture."

"Maybe later, Doc."

~.~

This 'Robin Hood' was a cheery fellow and once he had gotten himself out of the stream had invited the trio to his secret hideaway to meet his Merry Men. Clara was very excited to go and see the legends themselves in the flesh. Much to the annoyance of the Time Lords as they were certain the man wasn't real.

"Let me introduce you to my men." He grinned at the trio, his men laughing and cheering upon his return to them, "This is Will Scarlet. He is a cheeky rogue with a good sword arm and a slippery tongue."

"My ladies." Will bowed to both girls, "argh!" He cried out as the Doctor pulled a lock of his hair out while he was low, "What do you want with my hair?"

The Doctor scanned it with the sonic, "Well, it's realistic, I'll give you that."

Robin eyed him before placing a hand on a porky bloke in monk ropes, "And this is Friar Tuck. Aptly named for the amount of grub he tucks into."

"You skinny blackguard." Friar Tuck laughed, stepping forwards to greet the ladies only to trip and nearly fall over as the Doctor grabbed his sandal right off his foot, "What are you doing?"

"This isn't a real sandal!" He declared.

"Yes, it is."

The Doctor sniffed it, grimacing at the smell, "Oh. Yes, it is."

"This, er, is Alan-a-Dale." Robin continued against the awkwardness, gesturing to the man with the lute, "He's a master of the lute, whose music brightens up these dark days."

"Stranger you are welcome here, in Sherwood's bonny glade." He sang to the ladies, "Ow!" He turned holding his arm to see the Doctor holding an odd object. A hypodermic needle he held. "Blood analysis." He murmured, "Oh. All those diseases. If you were real, you'd be dead in six months."

"I am real!" Alan huffed.

"And this is John Little." Robin continued, gesturing to the large bearded man, "Called Little John. He's my loyal companion in many an adventure."

The man stepped aside and a small man stepped into view.

"Works every time." Will laughed at Clara's surprised expression.

"Oh, I cannot believe this!" She smiled, "is this real? I mean...Robin Hood and his Merry Men?"

"Aye!" Robin grinned before the Doctor could say anything, "That is an apt description. What say you, lads?"

"Aye!" They all chorused.

"Stop laughing." The Doctor glared at them all, "Why are you always doing that? Are you all simple or something? I'm going to need a sample."

Clara huffed, sending a sheepish grin at them men as she dragged Raven and the Doctor away to talk in privacy.

"What are you doing?" Clara demanded.

"Well, they're not holograms, that much is obvious."

"Clones?" Raven suggested.

"Oh don't encourage him." Clara rolled her eyes.

"Could be a theme park from the future." He nodded, "Or we might be inside a miniscope."

"I hardly doubt that." Raven remarked. "Robots?"

"Why would they be robots?" Clara moaned. Honestly, Time Lords were such a stubborn species, never wanted to admit the truth even if the proof was right before their eyes.

"I don't think they're robots," the Doctor muttered, they weren't stiff or jerky walking around like they were.

"Forgive my saying," Robin frowned, speaking to Clara as the Doctor stalked off, searching for more evidence that they weren't real, "Your friends seems not quite of the real world."

"Yeah sorry," Clara smiled at him. "They're not most of the time." She watched as the Doctor, the man rambling quietly about clones, "Dark days?"

"My lady?"

"You said that these were dark days. What did you mean?"

"King Richard is away on crusade, my lady." Will explained, "His tyrant of a brother rules instead."

"And the Sheriff." She frowned, recalling the characters from the legneds, "Cos there is a sheriff, right?"

"Aye." Alan nodded, "it is indeed this jackal of the princes who seeks to oppress us for ever more."

"Or six months in your case." The Doctor quipped as he scanned the camp for anything unreal, the water, the rocks, the food. He was checking everything.

"It is a shame to dwell on murky thoughts when there is such beauty here." Robin winked at her.

"Why are you so sad?" Raven asked him.

He looked at her, confused, "Why do you think me sad?"

"You laugh too much to be natural." The saddest people tended to be the ones who laughed the most. "It's annoying. No one laughs that much."

"You know, I do not live this outlaw life by choice. You see before you Robert..."

"Earl of Loxley." Clara finished, "Sorry. Do go on."

"I er, I had my lands and titles stripped from me. I dared to speak out against Prince John. But I lost the thing most dear to me."

"Maid Marion."

"You know her?" the mans eyes widened.

"As much as we know you." Raven stated.

"It was Marian who told me that I must stand up and be counted." He sighed, slumping, "But, I was afraid. Now this green canopy is my palace and the rough ground my feather bed. Maybe one day I will return home, but until that day. Until that day, it is beholden on me to be the man Marian wanted, to be a hero for those this tyrant sheriff slaughters."

"What time is it, Mr Hood?" The Doctor called walking back over with a red apple.

"Somewhat after noon."

"No, no. Time of year?" He corrected with a roll of the eye, "What season?"

"Oh, Dame Autumn has draped her mellow skirts about the forest, Doctor. The time of mists and harvest approaches."

"Yeah, yeah. All very poetic. But it's very green hereabouts, though, isn't it? Like I said, very sunny."

"So?" Clara frowned.

"Have you ever been to Nottingham?"

"Climate change?"

"It's 1190."

"You must excuse me." Robin cut into whatever banter may be brewing, "The Sheriff has issued a proclamation and tomorrow there is to be a contest to find the best archer in the land. And the bounty, it's an arrow made of pure gold."

"An archer competition while knowing the Robin Hood is an archer," Raven mused.

"Its a trap!" Clara gasped, eyes wide as she tried to offer a warning.

"Obviously a trap."

"Well, of course it is!" He laughed, "But a contest to find the best archer in the land? There is no contest."

"Right, that isn't even funny." The Doctor snapped his fingers at him, "That was bantering. I am totally against bantering."

"So you still don't think he's real then?" Clara hissed as Robin moved to his Merry Men to prepare for the contest.

"Because he can't be." He insisted.

"When did you stop believing in everything?"

"When did you start believing in impossible heroes?" He countered.

"Don't you know?" She smiled, placing a hand in his cheek, "In a way, it's rather sweet." She walked off to continue speaking to the men.

"Apple?" The Doctor held a red apple out to Raven.

"Is it safe?" She eyed it.

He shrugged, tossing it to her, "sonic says so."

"You take a bite first." She tossed it back. "If you die I'll know the sonic was wrong. If you survive, poor me…"

He rolled his eyes but took a bite himself, "see? Fine."

"Well, I don't want your germs. You keep it."

He sighed, he really should have been expecting that. But the apple was alright.

~.~

"We're a bit late," Raven remarked peeking through the archway at a nearby castle. They had spent the night in the TARDIS working on a project as Clara camped with the Merry Men. Of course they'd moved the TARDIS closer to keep an eye on the woman but nothing seemed to have happened. The Doctor had been distracted most of the night, just because he kept glancing at the monitor to check on Clara, occasionally poking his head out to ensure the Merry Men hadn't somehow been able to tamper with the TARDIS.

But the men had been respectable, offering her blankets and something to rest her head on, keeping a good distance from her as she slept.

They stood out of sight watching the contest. Watching as Robin Hood split the Sheriff of Nottingham's arrow on the target across the courtyard. The crowd cheering in the make shift stand, Clara nearby watching Robin Hood in delight. The contest nearing the end with just those two left.

"This is how you make an entrance," the Doctor winked, pulling an arrow out of his pocket and picking up a bow on a nearby table left by another archer, pulling the bow back so the multicoloured feather tickled his cheek, aiming at the target...

...splitting Robins arrow in two.

He winked at Raven who scoffed, unimpressed as he stepped before the crowd, grinning broadly as everyone looked to see who had thrown the arrow, "I'm the Doctor." He shouted at the crowd turned to them, "My skills as a bowman speak for themselves. I claim my reward." He held his hand out to the Herald to claim his golden, "A mere bauble." He threw it in the direction of the Merry Men a good few feet away, "I want something else."

The sheriff eyed him suspiciously before nodding, "Name it."

"Enlightenment..."

Only for Robin Hood to split the Doctors arrow, sending the crowd wild.

The Doctor glared, but fired again this time at a guards armour where it bounced off a castle will and hit the target, splitting Robins arrow.

But again Robin raised another of his own bow, not about to be beaten by this old man as he keep his eyes on the Doctor, off the target, as he fired, smirking as he hit the bullseye.

"This is ridiculous," Raven rolled her eyes, snatching the Doctors sonic from his pocket and flashing it at the target where it exploded into a ball of flame.

"Like explosions do you?" the Doctor asked her, snatching the sonic back.

He noticed she quite liked to take his sonic when he wasn't looking, had added the explosion setting, clearly. But whenever he left it laying around he knew where he left it but would always find it somewhere else. He had caught her once, tinkering with it and dreaded to think what she was doing with it. He didn't say anything, she hadn't seen him but she had given up and put it back, muttering something about wood settings. He would bring it up one day, a day when he knew she wouldn't throw a book or something at him.

"Sorry what?" she blinked at him.

"Fascinating." The sheriff mused before pointing to the Time Lords, "Seize them!"

The Knights stomped over to them as Clara reached them from where she had been standing and watching, grabbing a halberd meant for display, trying to swing it at the Knights but it was too heavy for her.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor yelled at her, "Put that down."

"I'm fine." She waved off, "I take Year 7 for after school Tae Kwon Do."

"Don't worry." Robin grinned, "I'll save you."

"We don't need saving." The Doctor hissed.

"Especially by a laughing ape like yourself." Raven added.

He ignored them, "Your honour is safe. For I am Robin," he removed the wide brim hat he had been wearing for a disguise, "Robin Hood!" He pulled out his sword, swinging at a Knight...only for its arm to spark and fall off.

Raven grabbed the arm, rolling her eyes at the cries of 'witchery!' From the crown, anything humans didn't understand scared them, "Robot." She murmured. Interesting. She looked up as the knight lifted it visor up to metal its metal face, a proper metal face with a purple light shining through a cut in its forehead. Well at least it wasn't Cybermen.

"Now we're getting somewhere." The Doctor grinned.

"Take them." The sheriff order pointing to the trio and Robin Hood, "Kill the rest. Kill them all!"

The robots turned, firing energy bolts from the light in their forehead.

"He surrenders!" The Doctor shouted, hands up in surrender, hoping the robots would stop.

"What?" He demanded but Raven merely knocked his sword out his hand and kicked it away, "I had them on the run." He huffed.

"You can't take all of them on," she nodded to the robots that were surrounding them.

"Flee, lads, flee!" Robin called to his men, "Live to fight another day!" They didn't need telling twice as they ran off.

"To the dungeons with all of them." the sheriff ordered.

"What are you up to?" Clara hissed as they were escorted away.

"Quickest way to find out someone's plan, get yourself captured."

"Oh, so there was a reason why you had such bad perception filters." Raven nodded, clearly mocking him.

"Yes, exactly!" he nodded, only to frown, "wait…when?"

"On the Valiant," she reminded him. He and his two companions had used TARDIS keys as a perception filter to sneak aboard, playing on looping one over the Master, but he had seen right through it, since they had been there to greet the president of America.

"Oh…" no, he had hoped that plan would have worked.

~.~

The dungeons were far from terrifying just…dark and cold. A bit of hay on the floor, a single cross-shaped window on one of the stone walls. Raven rested her head back to the pole behind her, eyes closed, as the group sat each before a spike dug into the ground, arms chained behind them and through hoops on the floor. Clara and Robin on either end with Raven next to the woman, the Doctor besides her.

"Splendid." Robin muttered, "Enchained."

"Yep." Clara sighed.

"Trussed up like turkey-cocks. Thanks to your friend."

"Shut it, Hoodie." The Doctor glared, "I saved your life."

"I had the situation well in hand."

"Long-haired ninny versus robot killer knights? I know where I'd put my money."

"If your daughter had not betrayed me, I would have been triumphant."

"Excuse me?!" Raven glared at him, utterly insulted, "I am not his daughter!"

"How could you think that?" the Doctor agreed, both very insulted. "We look nothing alike."

"He is an utter idiot!"

"She is a nuisance!"

"Disgusting!"

"Completely! Just…no. no!" the Doctor shook his head. He had had a family and children of his own. And Raven was NOT his child. Raven was just in his care that was all. She was the daughter of his ex-best friend. No more no less. He had known the girl for most of her life, been there at her birth but he wasn't her family. If Time Lords did like humans did and had godparents then maybe he would have been her godfather but they didn't. So she wasn't anything to him except the Masters daughter. And yes, when he realised that she had survived with the Master he had been jealous that he still had his child while all of his children and died in the war.

He hadn't even know that until it was too late. The death of his children was enough to send him to steal the Moment.

"Stupid ape." Raven grumbled. How dare he? How dare he think that just because she had the appearance of a young girl she would be his daughter? They looked nor sounded nothing alike. But then again, she hadn't looked anything like her father and she dreaded to think how different she would have been from her mother nowadays. But the Doctor would NEVER be anything compared to her father.

"You would have been a little puff of smoke and ashes." The Doctor continued after the pair had finally stopped insult each other for how much they didn't mean zilch to each other.

"Oh, ha!" Robin scoffed.

"You'd have been floating around in tiny little laughing bits in people's goblets."

"Balderdash. Ha!"

"Oh, right, here we go." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "It's laughing time."

"Well, you amuse me, grey old man."

"Guard!" The Doctor snapped, "He's laughing again! You can't keep me locked up with a laughing person."

"Oh, I find that, I find that quite funny. Do you know, I feel another laugh coming on. A-ha-ha-ha!"

"Oh shut up!" Raven moaned, banging her head back against the spike. This was giving her a headache.

They either didn't hear her or chose not to, "Guard, I cannot remain in this cell. Execute me now."

"You heard him." Robin called, "Execute the old fool."

"No, hang on. Execute him."

"I do not fear death, so execute away."

"Execute him. I'd like to see if his head keeps laughing when you chop it off!"

"Oh, Robin Hood always laughs in the face of death."

"Yes, rolling around the floor laughing, I would pay good money to see that."

"Please don't..."

"Guard!"

"Guard!"

"Guard!"

"Guard!"

"Guard!"

"GUARD!"

"Oh, you two, shut up!" Clara yelled. For such a small person she sure could yell.

"Thank you, Clara!" Raven remarked.

"No problem."

"You do know the guard walked away, right?" She looked at them, "if you were listening you would have heard him walk away."

"Oh." The Doctor blinked.

"I did, in fact know he walked off." Robin defended.

"No, you didn't."

"Men!" Raven tutted.

Clara sighed, "The Doctor and Robin Hood locked up in a cellar. Is this seriously the best that you can do? You're determined to starve to death in here squabbling."

"Well, I'll tell you one thing." Robin began, "I'd last a lot longer than this desiccated man-crone."

"Really?" The Doctor scoffed.

"Really." He nodded.

"Well, you know what? I think you'll find I have a certain genetic advantage..."

"We get it!" Raven cut in, "you got a new regeneration cycle. It's nothing special. God knows how many my father had…"

He went through regeneration so much. When she had been younger it had terrified her that he would die so soon. But thankfully he had been able to get a new cycle before he buggered off the planet the first time. She hadn't minded him going, making him promise to come back every chance he got. A promise he didn't keep, until the war started anyway.

"So...do any of you have a plan?" Clara called.

"Yeah, of course I have a plan." The Doctor nodded.

"One's coming." Raven frowned in thought.

"Is it going to involve someone dying?" The Doctor moaned.

Her frowned deepened, "I don't think so...huh. As long as everyone co-orporates. No death involved."

"Huh." He nodded, impressed, "I'm proud of you, birdbrain."

She shook her head, too irritating with the arguing men to snap at him for the nickname she really did hate, "stop calling me that."

"I too have a plan." Robin agreed.

"Robin, you first." Clara nodded to him.

"Why him?" The Doctor frowned.

"Doctor, shut up. Robin, your plan."

"I am biding my time." He offered.

"Thank you, Prince of Thieves. Doctor?"

"Remember that the sheriff has your sonic screwdriver," Raven cut in. She should make her own.

He opened his mouth only to close it again, remembering that, "damn..."

Both girls rolled their eyes at that.

A moment later the door opened and the guard stepped in.

"See?" Robin grinned, "There was a guard. There was guard listening the whole time, I knew it. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

The guard sneered at them, showing his teeth were gone, left with rotten stumps, "The Sheriff himself commanded me to listen, to find out which of you is the true ringleader."

"Ah, so he can do the interrogating." The Doctor nodded, holding his arms up to be untied, "Very wise."

"Excellent." Robin beamed, reading to be untied himself, "He will get nothing from me."

"No, no, no, no. no. He will get nothing from me, because interrogation, that's where I always turn the tables. You see," he grinned at the girls, "that's my plan."

"Just hurry up and take me to him."

"Just take one of them," Raven groaned. She didn't care which one of them were take just as long as she wasn't left with them both.

"Seriously?" Clara blinked as the guard unchained her.

"Excuse me," Raven tapped the guards leg with her foot making him look at her, as she looked back at him mock innocence, "could I go with you. I don't want to be left with these two."

"OI!" The Doctor pouted at that.

"What are you doing?" Robin demanded as Clara was led out of the cell.

"Don't be ridiculous!" The Doctor yelled.

"Quick!" Robin turned to Raven, "be sick."

"Excuse you?" she lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Beat your breast. Moan. Groan as though 20 devils possessed your guts."

"What for?" The Doctor shook his head.

"So as to attract the attention of that gargoyle-faced guard."

"And why am I the one to be sick?" Raven narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, you're young! The guard will come back for you."

"The guard is taking Clara to the sheriff," she pointed out, there was no guard out there. She shifted, trying to pull the skirt of her dress up a little to show her shoes.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor eyed her. They hadn't been in that long for her to be getting a numb bum.

"Getting the key." She huffed at his obliviousness as she tossed her leg up lightly, the key on the hoop flying up gently into her lap, where she separated the chain key from the others with her knees, shifting to reach the Doctors chain as he turned to give her easier assess.

"Got it!" She cheered as the man's chains fell apart.

"Brilliant!" He grinned, taking the keys in his free hands and unchaining her.

"Why him first?" Robin demanded as Raven moved to unchain him.

"Because he was next to me and he is also my CARER," she countered, "not father. And you're on my last nerve."

"Why not just leave him to spend the night in the cell?" The Doctor crossed his arms.

"Good point," she nodded, tempting to re-chain him, "but he could be useful."

"You mean bait don't you?"

"Of course."

"Well there is a bright side to this," Robin remarked.

"That Clara didn't see Birdbrain rescue us?" The Doctor glanced at him.

"Aye."

"If Clara hasn't already assumed the obvious then I will be informing her," Raven informed them, unlocking the cell door.

"Who put you in charge exactly?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her, almost amused.

"I put myself in charge seeing how I was the one to get us out. I believe I deserve to be in charge."

The Doctor men glanced at each other before sulking after her. Neither denying she should be in charge.

"And enough with the stupid nickname!"

The Doctor slapped him lips together as she stalked down the hall ahead of them. Ah, yes, he had forgotten that a certain someone Raven once knew used to call her that. He'd best stick to bitter bird.

~.~

The trio walked through the castle, trying to get to a high room to try and get a better look of the castle to try and work out where Clara might be, Raven walked ahead, ready to deal with any robots or guards around. There didn't seem any. Not even as they reached a metal door, far out of place for the century.

The Doctor pushed the doors opened and entered a very advanced, a wide room with a console, a monitor set in it with a hemisphere at the end.

"At last." He smiled, "Something real. No more fairy tales."

"What is this place?" Robin gaped, looking around.

"A spaceship." He answered, "More 29th century than 12th. Data banks, data banks, data banks. Where was this ship headed?"

Raven leaned forwards looking at the monitor, "The Promised Land," she murmured, "again."

"Like the Half-Faced Man," the Doctor frowned, "but more sophisticated. It disguised itself as a 12th century castle."

The Doctor pushed a button and a diagram of the ship appeared showing it landing, the top pointing up, like a rocket or a central keep. "It merges into the culture, tries to keep a low profile, so no one notices. That explains the robot knights. But the engines. The engines are damaged. They're leaking radiation into the local atmosphere, creating a temporary climate of staggering benevolence."

"I beg pardon? Robin blinked.

"I told you." He rolled his eyes at the man, "It's too sunny. It's too green. And there is even an evil sheriff to oppress the locals. This explains everything, even you."

"It does?

"Well, what does every oppressed peasant workforce need? The illusion of hope. Some silly story to get them through the day, lull them into docility, and keep them working. Ship's data banks. Full of every myth and legend you could hope for, including Robin Hood." He pressed another button and the monitor shows the books and photographs of Robin Hood. "Isn't it time you came clean with me? You're not real and you know it. Look at you. Perfect eyes, perfect teeth. Nobody has a jawline like that. You're as much a part of what is happening here as the Sheriff and his metal knights. You're a robot."

"You dare to accuse me of collusion with that villain, the Sheriff?" Robin cried.

"I dare." The Doctor nodded.

"You false-tongued knave. I should have skewered you when I had the chance."

"I would like to see you try."

"The pair of you, shut up, before I kill one of you!" Raven hissed, glaring at them both.

"But you are unarmed!" Robin laughed.

"And doesn't that scare you?"

His grin faded, seeing she wasn't backing down. He swallowed, she look serious that she could kill without a weapon.

"I'll claw your eyes out."

"Raven…" The Doctor called softly but whatever else he had to say was cut off by the doors being blasted of their hinges by the robots knights as they stomped on with the Sheriff and Clara in his grasp.

"Surrender, outlaw!" The sheriff shouted.

"Very good." The Doctor clapped mockingly.

"Kill him." The sheriff ordered his robots, "Kill Robin Hood."

"You can drop all that stuff now, Sheriff."

Raven frowned, as much as Robin Hood couldn't be real, she was starting to think that just maybe…he was. Or at least he wasn't working with the sheriff. Why use him to go against him? That would be stupid.

"He is not what you think he is, Clara," the Doctor continued, pointing at Robin, "This is all play-acting."

"We can't just let them kill him!" Clara cried.

"You're not fooling anyone, Sheriff." He took a step forwards only for a robot guard to fire, causing him to stumble as he dove out of the way.

Clara used the chance to break free from the sheriffs grip and over to Robin Hood who grabbed her waist and hoped into the window ledge. "What are you doing?" She gasped.

"Surviving," he answered, his eyes on the Time Lords as he fell backwards out of the window and into the moat.

The pair ran to the window, looking down unable to see them.

"Come on," Raven breathed, looking for any ripples or bubbles but finding nothing...

"Yeah, sorry about the girl." The sheriff muttered not seeing remorseful in the slightest, "Such a pretty thing. What a queen she would have made."

He shrugged and turned as Raven sighed in relief seeing Robin dragging Clara out of the other side of the moat. Only to blink, realising that she was actually concern for the girl. When she saw that Clara was still under the water, she had feared for a second that she was dead. But why would she care for a human? She shouldn't, they were just stupid apes, so easy to manipulate. But Lucy…Lucy was nice, she had been kind and caring, she had been as much as a mother as she could have been while not being her mother and being human. Lucy was the only human she swore to care about. Even after she shot her father, she had still held Lucy in her hearts. She couldn't care about Clara, could she?

The Doctor turned back to the sheriff, silently thankful that (whatever he was) Robin had at least took Clara to safety, "Stop pretending. You and your fancy robots. I get it. I understand."

"Oh, so you to know my plans?" He looked at him also delight.

"To?" Raven smirked at that. Clara must have 'persuaded' him to reveal his plans, using her looks and 'womanly ways'.

"You and your robots plundering the surrounding countryside for all it's worth. Gold. Gold. Of course. Gold. You are creating a matrix of gold to repair the engine circuitry."

"This is the scheme the Mechanicals have devised. Soon this sky ship will depart. Destination, London. There I will obliterate the King and take my rightful place as ruler of this sceptred isle."

"It won't work. There's not a chance. I've seen the instruments. There's been too much damage. You are stoking up a gigantic bomb!"

"Shush," the sheriff gestured to them as a robot stepped up and hit the Doctors shoulder knocking him out...

"You..." The sheriff sneered at Raven as she duck from the hit, "shall come willingly or we will dispose of the old man."

She pursed her lips, she didn't care if they disposed of him. He wasn't her family, "fine." She nodded anyway.

She couldn't help but feel curious how badly this plan would end.

Like the Doctor said, best way to find out a plan was to get captured.

~.~

Raven sat against a wall in a cavernous part of the castle, tied in manacles, the Doctor head dropping on her shoulder as he sat besides her, still knocked out as she watch as the other people who had been taken prisoner, being used a slaves, completing their tasks as the robot knights stalking around carrying random bits of gold.

"Engine capacity at 48%," one of the robots was reporting. "Engine capacity at 48%."

The Doctor jolted awake with a gasp, "what did he say? What percent?"

"48%. That's not enough."

"It's not enough. That's not enough. It'll never make orbit." He looked up hearing yeah mechanical whirl amongst the moans and crud of the people, "That's the engines, building in power. Stupid, stupid Sheriff."

"So how do we stop him?" Raven asked.

The Doctor blinked, "you want to help stop him?"

"I want to see his plan fail." She corrected.

"Stop him," they looked over to see a young woman in a dirty gown watching them, "what exactly is the sheriff planning?"

"If you unchain us will tell you." Raven held her chained hand up.

"Of course," the woman nodded, "one moment," she hurried off, no doubt to find something to help free them.

Raven rubbed her wrists once free from the manacles as the Doctor explained the sheriffs plan to the young woman.

The woman frowned, "I think I understand you. The Sheriff's using the gold to replace something."

"That's the principle." The Doctor nodded, "But he's a moron. If he tries to fly this ship, it'll explode and wipe out half the country. What we need is a little riot. Time to reflect on lasers and gold. Spread the word."

"At least this word isn't 'Doctor' this time." Raven grumbled.

He smirked at her, "oh, I know you muttered my name back then."

"No I didn't. I was by my father's side." She stuck up her nose, stubbornly despite knowing he was right, she had actually muttered his name when he connected himself into the Archangel network and reverted back to his younger self. She still didn't quite know why she had.

~.~

The Doctor looked up as a robot knight approached them, Raven keeping her head down, looking at the ground, hood up.

"You are fit for labour." It stated turning to the young woman as she returned to inform them that everyone else knew of the plan and was ready, "Stand aside while these peasant units are freed."

"I'm afraid you're a little late." The Doctor smirked.

"Explain."

"We're already free!" He grinned showing their hands were untied. It reading to fire a ball of energy at them but Raven held up the golden plate she had been sitting on that the woman had given her, it reflected the energy back onto the knight, blowing its head up.

More robots approached having heard the commotion but everyone else who had been used as slaves held up their own plates, slowly surrounding the robots, reflecting their fires back to them until only one was left.

It tried to fire but it bounced off of the plates, multiplying, before finally hitting it making the whole thing explode.

"Out, out!" The Doctor shouted as everyone cheered, "Everyone, quickly, get out. Quickly!"

"You've saved us all, clever ones," the young woman smiled, giving the Doctor a quick kiss on the cheek in thanks, "Thank you." She ran off with the other humans.

"Come on!" The Doctor pulled Raven off, trying to find the main control room.

"Engine capacity at 82%." They heard as they ran in to see the sheriff standing theirs with a knight of his own, the room for melting the bats of gold.

"You are indeed ingenious." The sheriff sighed, "But do you really think your peasants' revolt can stop me?"

"I rather think you're the revolting one around here." The Doctor muttered only to grimace, "I'm bantering. I'm bantering. I hate banter…" he paused a second as he turned to Raven, "except with Raven."

Their banter was rather fun, he had to admit. They both had a mutual respect for each other. He respected Raven for trying to move on from her past of taking over the Earth and whatever else she could have done (he dreaded to think which of the Masters previous plans had been hers), and she respected him because he went against everything the Time Lords stood for and did nothing but meddle with history.

He shook his head, continuing, "Listen to me. You don't have enough gold content to seal the engine breach. If you try and take off, you'll wipe out half of England."

"Liar!" He sneered. "From my sky vessel, I shall rule omnipotent."

"You pudding-headed primitive, shut down the engines."

"What you're doing will alter the course of history." Raven called.

"I sincerely hope so, or I wouldn't be bothering."

"The entire future..." She tried.

She didn't really care that much about his plan, because she knew it wouldn't work. But with the slim chance that it did, if he wiped out England from this year then it never would be there in 2007 when they brought the Toclafane. That was just plan rude.

"Listen to me." The Doctor called, "It doesn't have to end like this. Shut it all down, return Clara to me and I'll do what I can."

"I don't have Clara." The sheriff informed.

"Robin's one of yours."

"What did you say?"

"He's one of your tin-headed puppets, just like these brutes here."

"Robin Hood is not one of mine." The sheriff laughed at his absurd accusations

"Of course he is. He's a robot, created by your mechanical mates."

Raven shook her head at him, "Why would they use someone to oppose them?"

"To pacify the locals," he shrugged, "give them false hope. He's the opiate of the masses."

"You know what we said about being wrong in public."

"But he can't be." He shook his head, "He's not real. He's a legend!"

"I know…" she sighed, glancing up to the gallery.

"Too kind!" Robin grinned from the gallery with Clara, "And this legend does not come alone."

"Hiya!" Clara giggled, holding onto him as the man stuck his dagger into the wall hanging besides them letting them slide down to the ground, safe and sound.

"You all right?" Robin asked her.

"Hell, yeah." She breathed.

"Good." He smiled at her as she joined the Time Lords side, turning to the sheriff, "My men have taken the castle."

"No!" The sheriff shouted.

"Now," Robin grinned raising his sword at him, "I'm going to take you."

"This one's all mine." The sheriff told his Knights, deactivated them by an amulet around his neck. "What do you say, outlaw? A final reckoning?"

"Oh, yes."

"Are you ok?" the Doctor asked Clara.

"Fine, yeah." She grinned.

"Good." He patted her shoulder, causing Clara to roll her eyes how he avoided hugging her, "We don't have long."

She gasped as the room began to shake and rumble a moment later, "Doctor..."

"The whole castle's about to blow," the Doctor told her.

"Meanwhile up above on the cross beams is entertainment," Raven smirked. Oh watching them fight was almost as fun as watching Captain Jack gasp back to life after finding new ways to kill him. "Ha!" she grinned as she watched the sheriff hit Robins arm making him drop his sword.

Robin glanced down, seeing them watching, winked and looked back to the sheriff, gesturing him to attack. The man lunged at him, but taking a leave out of the Doctors book, turned so they were back to back before kicking the back of the sheriffs' knee where he lost his footing and fell into the vat of gold.

Robin watched him fall, looking away as the man fell into the liquid and grabbing a rope to lowering himself to the ground.

"Sorry." He grinned at the trio, "Was that, er, was that showing off?"

"That was amazing!" Clara gushed only for the ground to shake again, the stone above crumbling as rocks and masonry began to fall.

"Run!" The Doctor yelled, taking Raven hand as they ran out of the castle, Clara and Robin behind them. He only pulled her off because he had a duty of care, not because he cared. No, absolutely not. "Come on, run!"

They ran outside, through a tunnel and across the moat where the Merry Men and crowd had gathered.

The turned, standing with them, to see the ship had taken off.

"It's never going to make it." The Doctor muttered, "Not enough gold. It'll never make it into orbit."

"The arrow," Raven turned to the Merry Men, just knowing they had taken it. It had landed close by them, "did it you take it?"

"Of course we did." Friar Tuck laughed, producing the arrow, "We're robbers."

"YOU are a priest," she corrected.

"I love you boys." The Doctor stared at them, taking the arrow.

"What are you suggesting?" Clara shook her head.

"The golden arrow may just be enough to get the ship into orbit," Raven spun to her.

The Doctor handed Robin the arrow and a bow one of his men had, "No, it has to be you." The man shook his head, "My arm is injured."

"You're arm is fine." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "its only a little cut." He huffed as the man still looked unsure to be able to have enough power to send the arrow all the way to the ship, "fine. Clara and I will hold the bow, you pull back."

Robin Hood nodded as Clara moved to the mans other side, her and the Doctor holding the bow, helping Robin to aim as he pulled the arrow back, wincing slightly from the pain before he let go.

They all watched in silence as the arrow hit the ships engine, giving it a push into orbit as it exploded.

"One awful day in Nottingham," Alan began to sing as the crowd cheered, "Brave Robin Hood was in a jam. The arrow flew it true..."

Will snatched the mans lute out of his hands, sighing, "Give it a rest, Alan."

"Give me my lute!"

Clara laughed, turning to the Time Lords to see neither that impressed, "Still not keen on the laughing thing?" She had to ask.

"No." The Doctor shook his head.

~.~

The Doctor watched near the TARDIS as Robin taught Clara how to fire a bow and arrow, the man gently holding her arms, pulling the arrow back, helping her hit the target. The woman giving him a kiss on the cheek in thanks, saying her goodbyes before heading inside the TARDIS.

"So, is it true?" Robin asked as he approached.

"Is what true?" He frowned.

"That in the future I am forgotten as a real man? I am but a legend?"

"I'm afraid it is."

"Hmm. Good. History is a burden. Stories can make us fly."

"I'm still having a little trouble believing yours, I'm afraid."

"Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear..."

"No."

"Until one night he is moved to steal a TARDIS?" Robin continued, "Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight. Clara told me your stories."

"She should not have told you any of that." He narrowed his eyes, making a mental note to complain about that.

"Well," Robin smirked at him, "once the story started, she could hardly stop herself. You are her hero, I think."

"I'm not a hero."

"Well, neither am I. But if we both keep pretending to be. Ha-ha! Perhaps others will be heroes in our name. Perhaps we will both be stories. And may those stories never end." He held a hand out to the Doctor, shaking his, "Goodbye, Doctor, Time Lord of Gallifrey."

"Goodbye, Robin Hood, Earl of Loxley." He returned.

Robin turned to Raven, taking her hand in his, "Goodbye Raven, Time Lady of Gallifrey," he kissed her hand, not noticing the girl grimacing and wiping it on the Doctors coat, the man rolling his eyes at the action.

"Robin Hood." She gave a curt nod.

He smiled, straightening, "And remember, Doctor. I'm just as real as you are." He winked, bowing to them.

Raven countered with a curtsy lifting her dress up before following the Doctor into the TARDIS where Clara was watching by the console.

"Admit it you like him," Clara smirked.

"Well, I'm leaving him a present, aren't I?" He counted, dematerialising and swinging the monitor to them showing that parked behind the TARDIS had been the young woman who helped them. Turns out she had been Maid Marian.

"Finally time to change." Raven smiled heading down to the wardrobe, Clara following.


	7. Listen

"Evening," Raven greeted to the Doctor as she saw him walking into the console room, despite how a few hours ago he had said he was going to get a few hours of sleep. She smirked as her voice seemed to startle him from any deep thought.

"It's late." The Doctor stated, frowning up at her.

"Yes."

"Its sleep time," he looked at his wrist, half expecting to see a watch, but he no longer wore that, if Raven hadn't managed to find him a coat back in Victorian London he probably would have sold it for one, "not reading time."

"Any time is reading time." She countered.

"Why are you awake?" he questioned, heading up the steps to the upper gallery.

"I was asleep," she sighed, marking her page in the book and setting it on the floor by her feet, "I woke up, knocking off…knocking my glass of water," she offered.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows knowing that what she really meant was the stuff animal she slept with. She would never admit it but she always slept with a stuff animal, liked to cuddle something soft. He wouldn't tell her he knew her deepest secret.

"Anyway," she shook her head, "I went to clean up the mess before the TARDIS complained and…for a second…I thought something grabbed my ankle. Nothing there. Couldn't get back to sleep though, thought I'd read some fairy tales from home."

The Doctors frown deepened at her words. That had been the exact reason he had woken up as well. Well, he had woken up anyway, shifting to get up when he felt something touch his ankle, but there was nothing in his room, but it left him wide awake and alert. He turned quickly, almost falling down the stairs and he ran to the console, running a scan that showed just the two of them in the TARDIS.

"Doctor?" Ravens slowly followed him to the console, "What are you…?"

The Doctor placed a finger to her lips, shushing her, "listen!"

She glared, whacking his finger away, listening to the silence in the room. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual hum of the TARDIS, the low mechanical whirling and their quiet breathing.

"Question." The Doctor called, moving around the console, "Why do we talk out loud when we know we're alone?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" she asked.

He ignored her, clearly it had been, "Conjecture. Because we know we're not." He dashed back up to the upper galley, scribbling on the blackboard, "Evolution perfects survival skills. There are perfect hunters. There is perfect defence. Question. Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding? Answer. How would you know? Logically, if evolution were too perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed?" He stopped writing, continuing to speak his thoughts aloud, "It could be with us every second and we would never know. How would you detect it, even sense it, except in those moments when, for no clear reason you choose to speak aloud? What would such a creature want? What would it do? Well?" He blinked, gesturing to the board, finding his scribblings were gone with only the word 'listen' left. "What would you do?" He turned, pointing to Raven as she stared up at him.

"I'm going back to bed." She deadpanned.

~.~

The Time Lords looked over as Clara's bedroom door opened, well, tried to but the TARDIS had parked herself behind the door, blocking it from opening fully.

"You just have to squeeze through." The Doctor called as he sat before the woman's dressing table while Raven had taken to laying on the woman's bed, "Why do you have 3 mirrors? Why don't you just turn your head?"

"What are you doing in here?" She huffed.

They had gotten back into a routine of travelling again. They'd turn up on a Wednesday, whether it was every week or month...it was always a Wednesday. Today was Friday. She hadn't been expecting them, seems even Raven hadn't been expecting it as she was in her pyjamas herself, a lightweight top and bottoms set in navy blue with silver moons repeating. She could only assume the Doctor got bored, dragged Raven out and got the date and time wrong. Nothing new then. Honestly she was more surprised things like this didn't happen more often.

"You said you had a date," Raven shrugged, "how bad was it?"

"I thought we'd better hide in the bedroom in case you brought him home, knowing he wouldn't be coming here on a first date. Bit early, aren't you? Did it all go wrong, or is this good by your standards?"

"It was a disaster and I am extremely upset about it, thank you for asking," she crossed her arms.

"That's apes for you." Raven commented.

"I am an ape."

"Semi-decent ape." She shrugged.

Clara blinked her at, "serious?" she smiled, even just being a semi-decent ape was good, especially coming from Raven.

The Doctor glance at her reflection through the mirror, "we need you, for a thing."

She hesitated, glancing at the phone in her pocket. "It's just…I might be getting a phone call."

"From the date guy?" The Doctor scoffed, "It's too late. You've taken your make-up off."

She glared at him, "no I haven't."

"Never mind that!" The Doctor jumped to his feet heading in the TARDIS, "come on, come on."

"We'll get you back in 2 minutes." Raven sighed as she passed Clara and headed into the TARDIS.

The Doctor spun to face them, "you know sometimes when you talk to yourself, what if you're not?"

"Not what?" Clara blinked.

"What if it's not you you're talking to? Proposition. What if no one is ever really alone? What if every single living being has a companion, a silent passenger, a shadow? What if the prickle on the back of your neck, is the breath of something close behind you?"

"I don't think he's be sleeping much," Raven hissed to Clara who could only stare at the man, "Too much coffee."

"He's also got bags darker than my eyeliner."

"Well what do you call this?" He led her to the blackboard with the word 'listen' still there.

"It looks like your handwriting." Clara tilted her head at it.

"Well, I couldn't have written it and forgotten, could I?"

"I saw you write it!" Raven exclaimed.

"Have you met you?" Clara agreed before looking around at all the open books, "What's all this?"

"Dreams." The Doctor answered, "Accounts of dreams, by different people, all through history. You see, I have a theory."

"I'll bet you have." she muttered, "What theory?"

"I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has the exact same nightmare. You wake up, or you think you do, and there's someone in the dark, someone close, or you think there might be. So you sit up, and turn on the light. And the room looks different at night. It ticks and creaks and breathes. And you tell yourself there's nobody there, nobody watching, nobody listening, nobody there at all. And you very nearly believe it. You really, really try and then..." He mimicked grabbing something, "There are accounts of that dream throughout human history. Time and time again, the same dream. Now, there is a very obvious question I'm about to ask you. Do you know what it is?"

"Have you had that dream?" Clara asked him.

"Exactly." He snapped his fingers at her.

"That was her asking you." Raven corrected.

"Either of you?" Clara clarified looking between them. "Have you?"

The Doctor shifted at that, "I asked first."

"I mean…" Raven shrugged, "its way he decided to go over the top with all this." She gestured at his findings.

Clara shrugged, "But everyone dreams about something under the bed."

"But why?" The Doctor stressed, "Come on," he took Clara's hand and led her to a section of the console that was just a pinky squidgy lump, where he gently forced her hands in it, "Just hold on tight. If anything bites, let it."

"What is it?" Clara frowned.

"TARDIS telepathic interface." Raven answered, "You are now in mental contact with the TARDIS."

"So don't think anything rude." The Doctor added.

"Why not?" Clara wondered.

"It might end up on all of the screens. The TARDIS is extrapolating your entire timeline, from the moment of your birth, to the moment of your death."

"Which I do not need a preview of." She hissed to the rotor.

"I'm turning off the safeguards and navigation," the Doctor moved around the console inputting the commands, "slaving the TARDIS to you. Focus on the dream. Focus on the details. Picture them, feel them. The TARDIS will track on your subconscious and extract the relevant information. It should be able to home in on the moment in your timeline when you first had that dream. And then, we'll see."

"What will we see?"

"What's under your bed." He grinned sending them off. "Ok, now don't get distracted. Remember, you are flying a time machine."

She winced as her mobile began to ring, thinking of Danny Pink, the new school maths teacher who she had gone for drinks with...the date that ended badly.

"Don't think about it!" Raven called, taking the woman's phone and tossing it away, not caring if she broke it or not. It was only a phone, she could replace it.

"Ok, that's good." The Doctor nodded as they landed, "That worked. We're here."

"Sorry, I think I got distracted." She bit her lip.

"No, no, no, no, no. The date's fine. Come on."

"Come on where?"

"Your childhood." The Doctor answered, stepping outside.

"The more you fight it the more the grip tightens." Raven called, seeing the human trying the force her hands free. She stopped tugging, gently releasing her hands.

"Thanks!" she beamed as they followed the Doctor outside under the dark sky before a large building with a few lights on.

"The West Country Children's Home." Raven frowned, "Gloucester."

"By the ozone level and the drains, mid-nineties." The Doctor remarked, "You must have been here when you had the dream."

"Never been to Gloucester in my life," Clara shook her head, "and I've never lived in a children's home."

"You've probably just forgotten." He waved them off, "Have you seen the size of human brains? They're hilarious. Little you must be in here somewhere, with your little brain."

"Didn't you look into her past when trying to figure out how she was impossible?" Raven shook her head at him, "was she ever in a children home then?" the answer was no, even she had looked into Clara's past. She knew the woman's mother had died in 2005 when the Autons attacked before the Slitheen took over Downing Street.

"Did I?" He frowned. Genuinely unable to remember. All those years on Trenzalore, a few things would have slip this mind. He remembered the important things, all his companions, from the very first school teachers he picked up, remembering them all, but little things like that, remembering all of them and all of their lifes before him, not even Time Lords had big enough brains to remember all that, the less important things had to go eventually.

"Isn't it bad if I meet myself?" Clara called, going about another way to remind him even he knew she had never been in a childrens home.

"It is potentially catastrophic." He agreed.

"So why did you bring me out here?"

"He's sleep deprived," Raven sighed heavily, "he doesn't know what he's saying."

"Probably best for you to wait in the TARDIS." He told her.

"Aw, really?" she mock moaned, "What if I go with Raven? She'll make sure I don't see myself." Not that she had even been here before, she would remember living in a children's home.

"Or kill you." Raven countered, but linked her arm through Clara's.

"Raven…" the Doctor whined. He had already destroyed one companions life, well, two if he counted Jack, because of her. He didn't want to lose Clara because of her too.

"I'm kidding." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine." The Doctor huffed sulking off, knowing there was no point arguing as he headed to the main doors.

"For now."

"Raven!"

"If I had have been distracted, what would have happened?" Clara asked as they linked arms and walked to the back door.

"We would have ended up somewhere entirely different than your past and with his piloting and I guarantee its the wrong place."

"Ooh. Surely you shouldn't be insulting his skills. You're not much better."

"Because the old cow hates me."

"And why, exactly does she hate you?" she shook her head. They had never actually said. Something about how Ravens father had been the prime minister Harold Saxon. Once they had told her that she had recognised Raven from seeing her on the news during the election. If she had been old enough she would have voted for him. She still couldn't, for the life of her, figure out her reason why, he just sounded good. Her dad, aunt and gran had all voted for him.

"I turned it into a Paradox machine." She blinked.

"Right." She didn't know what that was.

"What are you doing down there?" A voice called from above and they looked up to see a young black boy leaning out of his window at them.

"Who wants to know?" Raven crossed her arms.

He smiled, "Rupert."

"Hello, Rupert." Clara called up to him.

"Rupert Pink. It's a stupid name."

"No, it isn't. I know somebody called Pink."

"I meant Rupert. I'm going to change it."

"Why are you awake?" Raven asked him, glancing to the other windows where all the lights were off, it must be pretty late, and humans slept a lot, even more the smaller they were. "Are you scared? Did you have a bad dream?" she pouted almost mockingly.

"Yes." He whispered, not catching onto the mockery.

"Well how about we come up?" Clara suggested, "Would you like that?"

He smiled and nodded.

"Clara!" Raven whined as the woman dragged her off, "It's just a chimp!"

"Enough comparing us to monkeys!"

~.~

Raven barged into a room on the second floor landing seeing the light peeking through from under the door, entering to find the boy in the floor by the window watching the door, seemingly having been waiting for them. Clara rolled her eyes at her antics. Time Lords, all of them were stubborn and rude. Well, she only knew two. But considering they weren't related she could guess it was a species thing. That's if they weren't lying about not being related, honestly sometimes with how they acted she was sure it was a lie, some sort of distant relation, maybe not blood family but related some way or another.

"Hello." The boy greeted, not seemingly put off by the rudeness.

"Nice room." Clara smiled glancing around the neatly kept room, "You know, you should have more than one chair." She sat down in it as Raven plopped herself down besides Rupert. She had to admit, she was curious how Raven reacted around children. "What do you do when people come round?"

"Sit on the bed."

"Why aren't you sitting on it now, then?" Raven asked him.

"Do you think that there's something underneath it?" Clara guessed, "Hey, everyone thinks that, sometimes. That's just how people think at night."

"Why?" The boy frowned.

Clara hesitated before asking Rupert, "Did you have a dream? A hand grabbing your foot? You have, haven't you?" She eyed the boy as he looked away, "You've had that exact dream."

"How did you know?"

"Do you know why dreams are called dreams?"

"Why?"

"Because they're not real. If they were, they wouldn't need a name."

"Do you know what's under your bed?" Raven asked, moving into her hands and knees and sliding under the bed, "me!" She turned to face the boy.

"Well that's one way to do it!" Clara blinked. It was such a Doctor way.

"My father used to do it with me, if I had a bad dream, my mother left him to be the one to help soothe me back to sleep. Come on, I won't hurt you."

She always preferred the Master helping her get back to sleep, Time Lords were very close, a Time Lord parent would never act home a human parent would, while a human parent would comfort and sooth and assure there was nothing wrong, a Time Lord parent would just ensure no one had broken into the house and hiding, believing that what their child was afraid off. The Master always ensured she was safe before leaving her back in the dark. She could remember a time when she had such a horrible dream, afraid of what she would see in the Utempered Schism that he had brought a chair into her room and sat with her all night, he had still been there when she woke up in the morning.

Rupert glanced at Clara as the woman moved herself to lay on her back under the bed on the other side as Rupert slowly shuffled in between them on his back.

"See?" Clara looked at him, "Nobody here, except us."

"Sometimes I hear noises." He murmured.

"It's a house full of people." Clara reasoned, "Of course you hear noises."

"They're all asleep."

"They're all dreaming." Raven corrected.

"Can you hear dreams?"

"Yeah. I mean some clever humans can. It's like when a dog wags its tail when dreaming about something nice."

"You know, sometimes we think there's something behind us." Clara agreed, "And the space under your bed is what's behind you at night. Simple as that. There's nothing to be afraid of. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Raven blinked when, as soon as Clara said that, the lights turned off, the bed creaking as something, a heavy something, seeing how the bed dropped to just above Clara's nose.

"Who else is in this room?" Clara asked quietly.

"Nobody." Rupert breathed.

"Someone must have come in."

"Nobody came in."

"Well then." Raven rolled out from under the bed to see a figure sat on the bed covered by a red crocheted bedspread.

"What is it?" Clara hissed.

"A stupid chimp," She crossed her arms.

Clara rolled out, getting to her feet, an arm over Rupert's shoulders, "this isn't funny," she told the figure, she would have said more had the light not turned back on and they saw the Doctor sat on the chair.

"Where is he?" He murmured flicking through a book on trains not seeming perturbed by the thing on the bed, almost bored.

"You've got to be kidding!" Raven stared at him.

"I can't find him. Can you find him?"

"Find who?" Clara shook her head at him.

"Wally."

"That's a book on trains." Raven snapped, "Why would Wally be on a train?"

"Why wouldn't he be? Maybe you just haven't found him yet."

"Wally isn't in every book you nincompoop!" she snapped, "Only the ones with him on the cover!"

"Really?" He looked at her, "Well, that's a few years of my life I'll be needing back." He looked over to Rupert hiding behind Clara, eying them oddly, "Are you scared? The thing on the bed, whatever it is, look at it. Does it scare you?"

He paused, glancing at the thing before nodding, "Yes."

"Well, that's good. Want to know why that's good?"

"Why?"

"Let me tell you about scared." He muttered, getting up and kneeling before the boy, "Your heart is beating so hard, I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It's your superpower. There is danger in this room and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it? Do you think he feels it? Do you think he's scared?" He nodded to the thing on the bed, "Nah. Loser. Turn your back on him."

"What?" He gasped.

"Yeah, turn your back on him. Come on. You too, Clara. Raven, your back, now." He headed to the window, "Do it. Just do it now. Turn your back. Do it now, turn your back. Lovely view out this window."

"Yeah. Come and see all the dark." Clara agreed, joining the Doctor looking out the window. Raven huffing but standing besides Clara.

"The deep and lovely dark. We'd never see the stars without it." He waited until Rupert joined them, standing between Clara and Raven, "Now, there are 2 possibilities. Possibility 1, it's just one of your friends standing there, and he's playing a joke on you. Possibility 2, it isn't."

"So, plan?" Clara hissed, "Plans are good."

"You on the bed, I'm talking to you now." The Doctor called without looking back, "Go in peace. We won't look. Just go. If all you want to do is stay hidden, it's ok. Just leave."

They stood in silence as the bed creaked and the thing moved.

"Don't look round. Not yet."

"I can't hear anything." Rupert muttered.

"Don't look round." The Doctor warned but Rupert slowly began to, "look away! Look away now!" the boy snapped his head back to the window before spotting the thing, "Don't look at it! Don't look round. Don't look round. Don't look at the reflection."

"What is it?" Rupert breathed.

"Imagine a thing that must never be seen. What would it do if you saw it?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Close your eyes." He nodded closing his own as Raven merely tugged her hood further down, "You too, Clara." The woman rolled her eyes but followed, "Give it what it wants. Prove to it that you're not going to look at it. Make a promise. A promise you're never going to look at it."

"I promise never to look." Rupert muttered slowly shutting his eyes.

"The breath on the back of your neck, like your hair's standing on end. That means, don't look round."

Raven spun around to the bed hearing the door slam shut to find the room empty, "gone."

"He took my bedspread." Rupert pouted.

"Oh, the human race." The Doctor grumbled, "You're never happy, are you?"

"Am I safe now?"

"Nobody's safe, especially not at night in the dark, anything can get you. And all the way up here, you're up here all alone."

"Are you meant to be scaring him?" Raven inquired, "Honestly, the face is enough to scare anyone."

"Gone way past scaring," Clara muttered looking around and smiling as she found a box of plastic soldier, "These yours?" She asked pulling them out.

"They're the home's." Rupert corrected.

"They're yours now."

"People don't need to be lied to." The Doctor muttered.

"People don't need to be scared by a big gray-haired stick insect, but here you are." Clara called back to him making Raven smirk at her.

"Right on, ape girl!"

"Oi!" He cried, sulking in the chair.

"See what I'm doing?" Clara continued to Rupert setting the soldiers around his bed acting as a guard, "This is your army."

"Plastic army." The Doctor cut in.

"Sit! And they're going to guard under your bed. You see this one? This is the boss one, the colonel. He's going to keep a special eye out."

"It's broken, that one. It doesn't have a gun."

"That's why he's the boss. A soldier so brave he doesn't need a gun. He can keep the whole world safe just by talking. So what shall we call him?" she wondered.

"Dan." He answered instantly.

"Sorry?" Clara blinked. Rupert Pink, naming a soldier Dan...like Danny Pink the ex-soldier?

"Dan, the soldier man. That's what I call him."

"Good. Good name."

"Yeah. Would you read me a story? It'll help me get to sleep."

Raven merely glanced back to the Doctor seeing him walking over and placing his fingers on the boy's forehead sending his back against the mattress asleep, "the end." He smirked at Clara who looked unamused, "Dad skills."

"Glad you aren't my dad," Raven muttered.

"Glad you're not my daughter."

"How dare you…"

"Really?" Clara huffed, seeing an argument brewing and she just wasn't in the mood tonight.

"God you're like my mother." Raven muttered, "she used to do that."

"Well, I'm not your mother." The Doctor paused at his words, "and it's not often I say that."

~.~

"So is it possible we've just saved that kid from another kid in a bedspread?" Clara inquired once back in the safe and warm console room with Rupert Pink safely asleep.

"Quite possibly," Raven nodded, helping the Doctor get them back to Clara's. 2 minutes later as promised.

"The bigger question is," the Doctor looked over at Clara, "why did we end up with him, and not you?"

"I got distracted." Clara admitted.

"But why that particular boy? You don't have any. You don't have any kind of connection with him, do you?"

"No." She quickly shook her head, "No, no, no. Of course not. Why do you ask?"

"The TARDIS was slaved to your timeline. Theoretically, there should have been some connection."

"Will, er…will he remember any of that?"

"Scrambled his memory. Gave him a big old dream about being Dan the soldier man."

Clara could only nod. Danny Pink in the future had become a soldier because of a dream about Dan the soldier man that they had started. A dream he tried to fulfil and end up regretting because of her.

"I am sorry to ask," She shook her head from her thoughts, "and, you know, I realise this is probably against the laws of time, or summit. Er, could you do me a favour?"

"Depends what it is," the Doctor eyed her. Seeing her wide eyes widening.

"Nothing enormous, just...could you drop me off at the restaurant. I'm not going to stop myself walking off. I just...regret leaving how I did..."

"As long as we don't run into yourself." The Doctor nodded as Raven sighed, changing the coordinates to the restaurant Clara had been on her date earlier that evening.

"Thank you." She smiled as they landed a moment later, "am I good?"

"Just a moment," Raven held up her hand as Clara moved to wait by the doors as she watched earlier Clara storm out from the restaurant. "kay."

Clara peeked out of the door watching herself storm off down the street as the Time Lords looked out behind her. "Is that really what I look like from the back?"

"It's a nice dress." Raven grumbled to admit. It was a nice dress, it was just a shame to be on Clara's body.

"I was thinking I looked good," Clara smirked. "Hey, at least I'm not in my pyjamas." She nudged Raven playfully.

"I was trying to sleep!" Raven grumbled.

The Doctor just grimaced as Clara walked off, "really?"

"Any insults about how I look from the back will not be appreciated." Clara remarked as she headed back into the restaurant and back to her date.

"Well, now what?" Raven wondered as she closed the doors seeing the woman settle back down at a table before a young black man. She didn't particularly care about the woman dating. It would only end badly, one would end up dying before the other. In a short amount of time too, giving the humans short life spans.

"Fine out why Clara was linked to that boy in particular?" The Doctor suggested rushing back to the console.

~.~

Raven rolled her eyes as she sat back in her armchair with a cup of green tea, resting for a few minutes as they parked in the kitchen of the local restaurant where Clara was continuing her date, storming into the TARDIS having followed an astronaut in an orange suit, an Orson Pink he had introduced as they found him stranded near the end of the universe, waiting for a rescue party.

"I am trying to have a date." The woman huffed, "A real life, inter-human actual date! It's a normal nice, everyday, meeting-up sort of thing. And I would just like to know, is there any other way you can make this anymore surreal than it already is?"

The astronaut removed his helmet to reveal he wasn't the Doctor but a black man with greying hair and a beard.

"Hello?" He greeted.

"I hope Mr Pink didn't interrupt too much," Raven sipped her tea, "actually I don't really care…"

"Now this is really a bit strange." The Doctor said, walking up into the console.

"Danny?" Clara breathed to the man.

"What's gone wrong with your face? It's all eyes! Why are you all eyes? Get them under control."

"Er, who's Danny?" Orson gave Clara a confused look.

"Clara," Raven introduced walking down to join them as she finished her tea, "Colonel Orson Pink, from about a 100 years in your future."

"Orson Pink?" She repeated.

"Yeah, we laughed too." The Doctor grinned, "well I laughed," he corrected himself, "Raven, well you know her, she just rambled off a load of insults. Do you have any connection with him?" He turned to Clara.

"Connection?" She frowned.

"Yes, maybe you're like a distant relative or something?"

"Did you just ask her if she knew a future family member?" Raven scoffed.

"Right. Ok," he nodded slowly, that was a stupid question on his behalf. He turned to Orson, "Er, well, do you have any old family photographs of her? You know, probably quite old and really fat-looking?"

"I don't..." Orson fumbled.

"How did you find him?" Clara asked.

"Well, you left a trace in the TARDIS telepathic circuits." The Doctor answered, "I fired them up again and the TARDIS brought us straight to him. So he is something to do with your timeline...and you'll never guess where I found him."

"Somewhere unbelievably dangerous that only you could find enjoyable," she deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes.

Raven smirked. "Somewhere not nice." she offered.

~.~

"Where are we?" Clara breathed looking out of a circular window in the capsule they had landed in, looking out upon the rocking planet outside as the sun set.

"The end of the road." The Doctor sighed, "This is it, the end of everything. The last planet."

"The end of the universe?" She glanced back at him.

"The TARDIS isn't supposed to come this far," Raven added, "not with the safeguards on…or with an immortal time agent clinging to the outside."

Clara blinked, "are you telling me that actually happened?"

"I was there!"

"At the end of the universe?"

"Hmm. Before we stole the TARDIS…"

Clara nodded, saying no more as Raven fell silent. She could guess 'we' meant her and her father. She didn't know the entire story, except that Raven and her dad, the Master, had escaped the war, somehow managing to steal the Doctors TARDIS, Raven turning it into a Paradox machine and using it to destroy the Earth. Funny, how she didn't remember that.

"Listen." The Doctor hissed.

"To what?" Clara shook her head.

"Nothing. There's nothing to hear. There's nothing anywhere. Not a breath, not a slither, not a click or a tick. All the clocks have stopped. This is the silence at the end of time."

"Then how did he get here?" Clara gestured to Orson as he busied himself with backing the few belonging that he had with him, "If he's from a 100 years in my future"

"Pioneer time traveller." Raven shrugged.

The Doctor flashed his sonic screwdriver at the computer, showing a news report 100 years in Clara's future, "Rode the first of the great time shots. They were supposed to fire him into the middle of the next week."

"What happened?" She asked.

"He went a bit far."

"A bit?

"A big bit." He nodded, "Look at him now. Robinson Crusoe at the end of time itself. The last man standing in the universe. I always thought that would be me."

"It's not a competition."

"I know it's not a competition." He muttered, "Course it isn't. Still time, though. Although, I wouldn't be mad if Raven lived longer than me."

"It is possible." The girl mused. They were both technically on the same number of regenerations, just his was a new cycle while she was still on her first, and technically only one. He had gone though an entire cycle in 2000 years, and she hadn't died once, if he kept regenerating as quickly as he did, she could easily outlive him.

"He looks like he's packing." Clara's gaze shifted over to Orson.

"He's been stranded for 6 months, just met a time traveller. Of course he's packing."

"You can do it, then?" The man asked entering with a large bag on his shoulders, "You can get me home?"

"I just showed you, didn't I?" The Doctor rolled his eyes, "A test flight to a restaurant."

"Yes, but to my family, to my own time?"

"Easy. I can do that, can't I, Clara?"

"Yeah. He's got a better chance if he leaves it to Raven..." She trailed.

"OI!"

"Ha!" The girl chuckled.

"But the TARDIS doesn't like her very much…" Clara finished.

"Oh…" Raven pouted at that.

"Is everything ok?" Orson eyed her, every time he caught sight of her she was staring at him with impossibly wide eyes. It was starting to freak him out a bit.

"Yeah, fine." Clara nodded, "I'm fine."

"Do I know you?"

"Nope!"

"Is she doing the all eyes thing?" The Doctor cut in, "It's because her face is so wide. She needs 3 mirrors."

"Doctor." Clara huffed.

"We can't leave immediately, though. The TARDIS needs to recharge."

"Sorry. What?"

"Overnight, that should do it, shouldn't it, Raven?"

"Overnight?" Orson swallowed.

"One more night. That's, that's not a problem, is it?"

"No. No, no problem."

"It's certainly funny how you think it's wise to lie to the only other 3 people in the universe, who just happen to be your way home." Raven smirked, an eyebrow raised, easily seeing through his pathetic lie.

"It was the first thing I noticed when I stepped in here." The Doctor continued, "You must have seen it, too, Clara. You've got eyes out to here."

"Seen what?" She shook her head, electing to ignore his insult.

"The universe is dead. Everything that ever was is dead and gone. There's nothing beyond this door but nothingness for ever. So why is it locked?"

"Paranoia." Raven answered that.

"Please, don't make me spend another night here." Orson begged.

"Afraid of the dark?" The Doctor smirked at him, "But the dark is empty now."

"No. No, it isn't."

~.~

What are we doing?" Clara sighed as she and Raven sat in the two chairs before the console panel, the Doctor tinkering with it having left Clara to keep Orson inside the TARDIS, the man not wanting to spend another night in the capsule. Raven sat straight in her chair, almost tense as she kept glancing to the door, as though she as well was expecting to see something try to get in from outside.

"Waiting." He answered, leaning his back against the console to face them.

"For what? For who? If everybody in the universe is dead, then there's nobody out there."

"That's one way of looking at it."

"What's the other?"

"That's a hell of a lot of ghosts." he flashed the sonic, the lights dimming.

"Do you have your own mood lighting now?" Clara teased, "Because, frankly, the accent is enough."

"Just look," the Doctor rolled his eyes pointing to the main hatch where a stick note was left with the words 'do not open the door' written.

"Where did that come from?" Clara gasped.

"It's always been there. It's only visible in the night lights."

"But who wrote it?"

"Colonel Pink. Apparently, at night, he needs a reminder. 6 months stranded alone, I suppose it must be tempting."

"What is?"

"Company." He looked over as the door creaked.

"What's that?" Clara breathed.

"What kind of explanation would you like?"

"A reassuring one?"

"Well, the systems are switching to low power. There are temperature differentials all over this ship. It's like pipes banging when the heating goes off."

"Always thought there was something in the pipes."

"Like a Basilisk." Raven nodded.

"Basilisk, really?" She looked at her for that.

"River made me read Harry Potter." She sighed. She had actually quite enjoyed the book series, despite being written by a human. It wasn't her favourite Earth written book, but she did enjoy reading it. There was a lot of death.

"Who were you having dinner with?" The Doctor asked.

Clara blinked at him, "Are you making conversation?"

"I thought that I would give it a try."

"I told you. A date."

"Serious?" He looked at her.

"It's a date." She shrugged.

"A serious date?"

"Do I have to bring him to you for approval?" She joked.

"Well, I would like to know about his prospects. If you like, I can pop ahead and check them out."

"He's a decent bloke."

"There's no such thing!" Raven scoffed.

She nodded slowly, it was nearly impossible to find one…only to gasp hearing something sounding like a scream, "what was that?"

"Atmospheric pressure equalising." The Raven replied, not worried like those two seemed to be.

"Or?" Clara breathed.

"Company." The Doctor whispered.

"Oh, for god's sake." Rave moaned.

"Why are we doing this?" Clara swallowed, growing slightly scared now, "Why don't we just go?"

"But I need to know." The Doctor murmured.

"Why?" Clara huffed, "Know what?"

"Suppose that there are creatures that live to hide. That only show themselves to the very young or the very old, or the mad, or anyone who wouldn't be believed."

"Ok, so..."

"What would those creatures do when everyone was gone? When there was only one man left standing in the universe?" He turned to the door hearing three loud bangs coming from it.

"What's that?" Clara gasped her head turning to the doors.

"Potentially, the hull cooling."

"Potentially?"

"Believably." 3 more bangs, "Someone knocking."

"But no one can survive out there," Raven shook her head. Not daring to mention those future kind things from the Silo. No, that would just terrify the human even more. She wouldn't admit it, but even she found herself frightened of them. If they were outside right now, well, this small shuttle would not keep them safe from them.

"You don't actually believe all this, do you?" Clara scoffed, "Hiding creatures, things from under the bed."

"Nope!"

"What's that in the mirror," the Doctor began to recite, "or the corner of your eye? What's that footstep following, but never passing by?"

"Did we come to the end of the universe because of a nursery rhyme?" Clara gave him a look. Not even spooked anymore, just annoyed at how that was such a Doctor thing to do. She shook her head as the man stood up and flashed the sonic to unlock the door as it began to turn, "That's you turning it, right?"

"No." He shook his head, "Get in the TARDIS. Both of you."

"Why?"

"I have to know." He whispered.

"Doctor…" Raven hissed.

"The TARDIS, now!"

"Ok," Clara rolled her eyes, "Somebody is out there. Now we know, we can leave. Doctor!"

"It's a pressure lock." He muttered, "Releasing it could've triggered the opening mechanism."

"Is there even an atmosphere out there?"

"There is an air shell round the ship. Why are you still here?"

"Because I am not going to leave you in danger!" She exclaimed.

"Then you will never travel with me again, because that is the deal! TARDIS now!" He looked back to see them both before the TARDIS doors, but neither going inside, "Do as you are told! Both of you!"

"And what if I don't?" Raven challenged though she did move towards the doors.

"Then..." He paused, thinking of what would really irritate her, "I will no longer continue making you your own sonic."

Her eyes widened, "you're making me one?" She breathed. "Why?" why would he possibly make her own sonic, especially after the trouble she had caused making the Master his laser screwdriver. Surely he knew that it would be dangerous with what she could do.

"TARDIS! Or you don't get it."

She hesitated a moment longer before opening the doors and rushing to the console as Clara regrettably followed closing the doors and joining Raven before the monitor.

"What's happening?" Orson called as he got up from where he had sat in the armchair.

"The Doc is being an idiot," Raven stated bluntly, watching as the Doctor stood before the door.

"He's opening the door," Clara added.

Raven winced as the door opened, the vacuum suck the air out of the room, causing the image to flicker and the TARDIS to jolt.

"What's happening?" Clara gasped as the klaxon sounded.

"The air shell around the capsule was breached when the air lock opened," Raven explained, racing around the console, "I'm trying to expand the TARDIS shield."

"Stay here!" Orson shouted rushing to the doors and reaching out as the Doctor was holding on to the console outside, trying not to get sucked out as Orson reached for him, grabbing the mans wrist and pulling him inside. Clara quickly slamming the door shut behind them.

Raven knelt before him, checking on him, "he's fine," she sighed, "just knocked out." She slapped his cheek, but he still didn't awake, not like that was the plan, "idiot!" she hissed.

"Something hit him," Clara noted, gesturing to the bump on his head.

"Well, everything was flying about."

"Could have been that..." She trailed glancing to the doors as the three bangs sounded again and she turned to Orson, "What was out there? What were you so afraid of?"

Orson shrugged, "I've been here a long time. My own shadow, probably."

"Yeah." Clara swallowed as a rumble sounded outside, rattling the TARDIS doors.

"That's just the rest of the air escaping." Raven rolled her eyes.

"We are safe?" Orson looked at Raven, "Nothing can get in here, right?"

"Nothing at all. Safest place in the universe."

"So...what now?"

"Have you got a plan?" Clara shook her head.

"No," she sighed, checking on the unconscious Doctor again, looking down, avoiding the stares of the two humans.

Clara stared at her, watching Raven's expression as she looked at the unconscious Doctor. She wasn't that great at reading the girls face but from what she could see the girl almost looked…worried for him. Something she had never seen on her before. She shook her head of those thoughts, rushing back to the console, sticking her fingers back into the telepathic circuit, the TARDIS taking off.

"What are you doing?" Raven blinked at her.

"I have no idea," she answered honestly, "but I don't want to stay here much longer."

Raven couldn't argue with that.

"Where are we now?" Orson asked as the TARDIS landed.

"Somewhere else." Clara offered as Raven moved to the monitor.

"Still not working," she murmured, "something must have hit the outside camera," she sighed heavily, spinning the monitor away. The woman grinned at that, moving to the doors. "Yeah, fine. Go out into the unknown. See if I care if you get kill."

"You can't go alone!" Orson frowned.

Clara smiled at his concern, "Thing is, my timeline, it keeps on. Orson, you don't want to meet yourself. It's really embarrassing."

Raven knelt besides the Doctor again as Clara headed out into the unknown, Orson standing awkwardly, jumping as the man awoke suddenly.

"Pudding brains!" he cried…only to get a slap, "ow, what did I do?" he nearly whined, rubbing his cheek as he sat up.

"You startled me!" Raven defended.

"So you decided to slap me!?"  
"Yes!"

He stared at her a moment longer, before noticing Orson eying him but no Clara, "Clara? Where's Clara?"

"Fine," she waved him off, "she's..."

But luckily Orson cut her off before she could come up with something, "What happened? What did you see? What's out there?"

The Doctor ignored him, more concerned on Clara, "she's what?"

They all looked over as the doors opened to see Clara standing there, "What if there was nothing? What if there never was anything? Nothing under the bed, nothing at the door." She closed the doors behind her and walked over, "What if the big bad Time Lord doesn't want to admit he's just afraid of the dark."

"Where are we?" The Doctor frowned at her, "Have we moved? Where have we landed?"

"Don't look where we are. Take off, and promise me you will never look where we've been."

"Why?" He asked as Raven moved to the console, glad to be able finally leave.

"Just take off. Don't ask questions."

"I don't take orders, Clara."

"Oh just do as you're told old man." She smirked.

The Doctor eyed her a moment longer before sighing and moving to the console, "fine," he huffed, "fine."

~.~

They dropped Clara back at the restaurant to finish her date before dematerialising and sticking to Earth's atmosphere.

"Seriously, though." The Doctor gently touched his cheek where he had a red handprint, "ow!"

"You started me." She glared.

"How could you have been startled unless you were near me?" He blinked as she fell silent, realising that for her to be able to slap him as soon as he gain conscious she would have had to be next to him, within arm's length. "Oh, Raven…" he smiled. "You cared."

"I didn't!" she sneered.

"Yes, you did."

"Shut up!" she glared, "I don't care about you! We are never mentioning this again!"


	8. Time heist

"The Satanic Nebula." The Doctor called as he stood in Clara kitchen watching her washing machine go round. "Or the lagoon of lost stars. Or we could go to Brighton." He moved from the kitchen wandering through to Clara's bedroom, the door open signalling it was safe to enter as the woman stood before her dressing table dressed in a smart maroon suit and tie while Raven was laying on the woman's bed, hanging her head over the edge in boredom, "I've got a whole day worked out."

"Sorry, but as you can see, I've got plans." Clara remarked.

"Have you?"

"Look at me."

He frowned at her, utterly confused, before Raven explained, "she's got another date."

Clara nodded, "at least one of you remembers these things."

"Remembers what?" The Doctor blinked.

Clara just rolled her eyes, "Right, got to go. Going to be late." She pushed past him into her hall, "Raven; do not let him touch anything electric. I do not need you to send half of London into darkness because you're bored."

"That was one time!" The Doctor huffed.

"And yet; it happened." Raven deadpanned.

"It was an accident! I fixed it."

Clara took the chance to sneak passed them as they started to bicker, their bickering usually turned to banter, "Bye!" she called fishing out her keys as the TARDIS phone rang making her pause as the Doctor turned to it, Raven peeking out of the bedroom door where the box was parked in the corner of the hall.

"Hardly anyone in the universe has that number." The Doctor muttered.

"Well, I've got it." Clara frowned.

"Yes, from some woman in a shop. We still don't know who that was."

"Is that her now?"

"There are very few people that it could be." He remarked moving to answer it.

"Don't." Clara warned.

"It's just a phone." Raven rolled her eyes.

"What is something bad happens?"

"Like what?" she scoffed

"A thing."

"It's just a phone, Clara." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her paranoia, "Nothing happens when you answer the phone." He huffed moving the phone to his ear...

~.~

The next thing they knew they were sat around a table in a dark warehouse two strangers sitting opposite, small white worms in the grasp, a woman in black opposite with her own besides a young man with cybernetics over his ear.

Raven grimaced, dropping the worm to the table as Clara screamed throwing hers aside, the Doctor flicking his away, "please tell me that wasn't a memory worm," she grumbled.

"Would if I could," the Doctor sighed, "Don't touch it."

"Doctor?" Clara looked at him, "Where are we? How did we get here?"

"Who are you?" The man opposite demanded, "Sorry, what's going on? I don't understand."

"So much for nothing happens when you answer the phone." Clara grumbled.

The Doctor glared at her, "shut up."

Besides him the woman grimaced wiping her hands as her cheeks burgled similar to the worms as she tossed it away, "argh!"

"What happened to your face?" Clara stared at the woman, "Did you see her face? Hold on," she frowned at Raven besides her, "did you say memory worm?"

"A single touch delayed an hour of your memory," she nodded.

"How did I get here?" The woman shook her head.

"The same way we all did," the Doctor replied, "but we've all forgotten."

"And who are you?"

The Doctor opened his mouth only for a black case in the middle of the table to cut him off. The Doctor's voice speaking through a recording.

"I am the Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."

The Doctor frowned, he didn't remember saying that.

Next they heard Clara on the speakers, "I am Clara Oswald, human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will. Do I really have to touch that worm thing?"

"Yes, you do. And change your shoes, you can't run in heels." The recording Doctor spoke as Clara looked down to see the sensible flats she was now wearing, "Raven?"

"No," recording Raven grumbled, making the current Raven smirk. It was definitely her.

"Raven..."

"I don't want too..." She huffed, there was a quiet argument in the distance in Gallifreyan they couldn't make out before she spoke again, "I'm the Raven, Time Lady from Gallifrey. And I'm only agreeing to this memory wipe just so I can get my own sonic. I don't like you...you jerk!"

Ravens smirk widened hearing the recorded Doctor, cry out from a hit, hopefully it was a book.

"Psi, you're next."

The man, Psi, shifted as he spoke on the recording, "I am Psi- augmented human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."

They watched as he pulled a chip from his head, seeing it marked 'memory compromised.'

"I am Saibra, mutant human." The woman, the last of them, finished the recording, "I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."

The moment the recording finished a small case that had been sitting on the table popped open with a golden light shining out. Showing two screens allowing them all to watch the footage as a deep, computerised voice spoke.

A golden K appeared on the screen in a circle for a moment before a shadowy hooded figure appeared and spoke, "This is a recorded message." It began, "I am the Architect. Your last memory is of receiving a contact from an unknown agency. Me. Everything since has been erased from your minds. Now, pay close attention to this briefing." The image shifted to show a large building standing alone on a planet, "This is the Bank of Karabraxos, the most secure bank in the galaxy. A fortress for the super-rich. If you can afford your own star system, this is where you keep it. No one sets foot on the planet without protocols. All movement is monitored, all air consumption regulated. DNA is authenticated at every stage. Intruders will be incinerated."

The image changed again to a woman breathing into a tube, the light turning red...nozzles appeared from the walls burning her and her companion alive before changing to showed an Asian couple in a room, placing a painting into a drawer in a small room.

"Each vault, buried deep in the earth," the voice continued, "is accessed by a drop-slot at the planet's surface. It's atomically sealed, an unbreakable lock. The atoms have all been scrambled. Your presence on this planet is unauthorised. A team will have been despatched to terminate you."

Just as the voice finished, a pounding began on the doors, "This is bank security." A man yelled through the doors, "Open up."

"Your survival depends on following my instructions." The Architect continued.

"Open up and you shall be humanely disposed of."

"There's another exit." Saibra pointed to the doors on the opposite side.

"All the information you need is in this case."

Psi grabbed the case, taking the chip from his head and slotting it into the case.

"Downloading." He said, closing his eyes as he took the information it.

"Ah. Augmented. Nice."

"The Bank of Karabraxos is impregnable." The Architect stated. The Doctor glanced into the case and took what looked like a small phone.

"Please stand away from the door." The guard shouted, continuing to break through, "We do not wish to hurt you before incineration."

"The Bank of Karabraxos has never been breached. You will rob the Bank of Karabraxos."

The footage cut off as the guard broke the glass. Psi grabbed the case and the group took of through the other doors and running as far from the room and guards as possible, running around multiple corners not daring to stop until they were out of breath.

"Augmented human." The Doctor turned to Psi, "Computer augmented, yes? Mainframe in your head?"

"I'm a gamer." He frowned, "Sorry, who put you in charge?"

"Liar," Raven called, pointing at him, "prison code on your neck."

"I'm a hacker/bank robber."

"Good." The Doctor nodded, "This is a good day to be a bank robber. Mutant human." He spun to Saibra, "What kind of mutant?"

"Like he says," she crossed her arms, "why are you in charge now?"

"It's my special power. What's yours?"

She sighed but removed her gloves on one hand, taking Clara's own and before their eyes she shifted and two Clara Oswalds stood before them before she replaced her glove. "I touch living cells, I can replicate the owner."

"Your face," Clara began, "when we first saw you..."

"I touched the worm."

"You can replicate their clothes too?"

"I wear a hologram shell."

The Doctor held out the small phone like device he grabbed from the case, "Human cells. DNA from a customer, maybe? A disguise to get us in?"

"We're actually going to do it?" Clara asked him, "Rob the bank?"

"I don't think we have a choice. We've already agreed to."

"Awesome!" Raven cheered.

The Doctor just shook his head. Only Raven could be happy to rob a bank. It wouldn't surprise him if this wasn't the first time Raven had robbed a bank, with knowing River back at Luna University, River had probably managed to bribe Raven to help her rob one. Robbing a bank was definitely something River Song would do for fun.

~.~

The group followed Saibra, the woman looking like an elderly gentleman with greying hair dressed in a sharp suit as they walked through the man area of the bank.

As luck would have it Saibra could hold the image of the customer for as long as needed so they needn't worry about her transforming back at a random moment during the heist and getting them caught.

"Question one." The Doctor began as they walked, "Robbing banks is easy if you've got a TARDIS. So why am I not using it?"

"Better question; where is the TARDIS?" Raven wondered.

"Ok, that probably should be question one."

"She's going to be cross you forgot about her."

The group froze as alarms blared, all exits being locks but security grills as a cheerily computerised voice spoke over the speakers, "Banking floor locking down."

"They know we're here." Saibra breathed.

"Banking floor locking down."

A smartly dressed ginger woman with glasses entered the room followed by two guards. She stopped in the middle of the room, looking over her shoulder as a large two-toed alien followed with pinkish-grey skin, with eyes on two antennae on the front, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and straight jacket, heavily chained with soldiers, aimed and ready should it try anything.

"What is that?" Saibra stared.

"I don't know." The Doctor frowned at it, "Hate not knowing."

"And it's not often you say that," Raven breathed, watching as it was forced into the room. Despite it could be dangerous it didn't matter, it clearly didn't want to be here, the jacket wasn't just for their safety, but to keep it under control.

"Excuse me, sir." The woman continued to a dark skinned customer in a suit, "I regret to say that your guilt has been detected."

"What?" he scoffed, shaking his head, already growing nervous, "That, that's totally ridiculous."

"Is it, sir? Well then, we will certainly double-check. The Teller will now scan your thoughts for any criminal intent. Good luck, sir." She stepped aside as the Teller, as she called the alien, stepped closer, the man setting his case on the floor.

"Interesting." The Doctor mused.

"What is?" Psi frowned.

"The latest thing in sniffer dogs. Telepathic. It hunts guilt." He grimaced as the Teller emitted a high pitched noise, causing the man to cry out and grab his head.

"What about our guilt?" Clara asked quietly.

"Currently being drowned out."

"What's he doing?"

"If he has a plan, he's trying not to think of it." Raven told her, watching the creature.

"Ever tried not thinking about something?" Psi scoffed.

"No." Clara murmured.

"You may have to." Saibra stated as the creature roared.

"Ah, criminal intent detected." The woman stepped back over, tsking the man, "How naughty. What was your plan? Counterfeit currency in your briefcase, perhaps?"

"No, not at all." He panted from the pain, "For God's sake."

"It doesn't really matter, we'll establish the details later. The Teller is never wrong when it comes to guilt. Your account will now be deleted, and obviously your mind. Suppertime." She called to the Teller who stepped even closer, moving its eyes closer together, sending a pulsing ray at the poor man as he clutched his head.

Psi flinched, feeling his cybernetic parts react to the energy and looked away as the man cried out in pain.

"It's wiping his mind." The Doctor frowned, "Turning his brain into soup." He glanced at Raven who looked away. "You alright?"

She touched her temple, "fine. Just…" she shook her head, "I'm fine."

"Your next of kin will be informed, and incarcerated," the woman remarked calmly, unaffected by the scene before her, "as further inducement to honest financial transactions."

"We've got to help him." Clara moved to help but the Doctor held her back.

"He's gone already. It's over."

"He's in agony, look at him." She looked back to see liquid leaking from his eyes.

"Those aren't tears, Clara. That's soup."

The creature separated its eye stalks, the man silencing as one of the guards caught him as he slumped forwards, his head caved in.

"Account closed." The woman smiled, "Take him away. He's ready for his close-up." She pulled out a microphone and spoke to the room, "Apologies for the disturbance. Everyone have a lovely day."

Raven swallowed watching as the Teller and customer were led from the room. That...was not nice. She had seen and done a lot but turning someones brain to nothing was new. And not the good kind.

"You alright?" The Doctor eyed her, honestly she didn't look it.

"I felt him," she whispered, "he reached out to my mind…crying out for help." She swallowed, looking up at the Doctor, "we have to help him."

"We will." The Doctor swore, eyes on the door where the Teller left before the group moved into one of the deposit rooms. It was large and rather plain in all honestly, with red marble columns and a computer on the wall opposite the sliding metal doors they stepped through.

"Deposit booth locking." The computer announced as the door slide shut behind them, "Please exhale. Your valuables will be transported up from the vault."

Saibra stepped up and breathed into the tube, letting out a long relieved sigh as it turned green before she changed but into her normal self as a case arrived.

"If he can break in here and plant this thing, then why does he need our help?" Psi wondered.

"Depends what the thing is." The Doctor reasoned as he took the case that was similar to the previous one and opened it, "Ok, well, I'm no expert, but fuses, timer. I'm going to stick my neck out and say bomb," he turned to Raven, "what do you reckon?"

"Yeah," she agreed after a moment, "definitely a bomb."

He looked at Psi, "Bank schematic. Now."

Psi glowered at him for being ordered about but moved and connected himself to one of the columns, bringing up a screen of the banks schematic.

"The floor below is all service corridors," the Doctor remarked, "the veins and arteries of the bank. He wants us to blow through the floor."

"Well, we'll die if we do that." Saibra cried.

"Well, not necessarily. There must be a plan."

"What if the plan is, we're blowing up the floor for someone else?" Clara inquired, "What if we're not supposed to make it out alive?"

"Why would we agree to come here then?" Raven countered. They would clearly survive unless they got caught. They must have known why they were coming in the first place, been told before the memory worm. That was the only way they'd agree, why the Doctor would agree, she had apparently been bribed by the possibility of a sonic and Clara was just tagging along as the Doctors companion.

"No way." Psi argued, "You can do you what you like. I'm going to take my chances out there."

"What do you want, Psi, more than anything else?" the Doctor called, "Whatever it is, it's in this bank. You agreed to rob the most impregnable bank in history. You must have had a very good reason. We all must have. Picture the thing you want most in the universe, and decide how badly you want it. Well?"

"Still don't understand why you're in charge." He muttered.

"Basically, it's the eyebrows." The Doctor set the bomb on the middle of the floor and everyone backed up against the walls as there was a flash and a hole appeared. "Nice. Dimensional shift bomb. Sends the particles to a different plane. Come on then, Team Not Dead." He grabbed the bomb, stepping aside to allow the others down first, "Raven, you first," the girl climbed down as the guards pounded on the doors, having found them again, "Clara," the woman followed and he quickly ushered Saibra and Psi before following himself and flashing the sonic reversing the bomb and the hole reappear as the guards rushed in, looking into an empty room.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Saibra looked at the Doctor, as they stood at the bottom of the ladder, "What's the plan?"

"I don't know." He sighed.

"The Architect set all this up." Raven mumbled, "Soon it should make sense."

"My personal plan is that a thing will probably happen quite soon."

"Ah, so that's it." Saibra huffed, "That's your plan?"

"Yep."

"A thing will happen?"

"A thing. Probably."

"Found another case." Raven called as they all joined her as she stood by a small crate, a case already on top.

"How does he get the cases here?" Clara frowned.

"By breaking into the bank in advance of breaking into the bank." The Doctor answered.

"Well, how did he do that?"

"And then why get us to go after them?" Raven agreed.

"Not our problem." He shrugged, he could guess, but they didn't know 100%.

"Well, what is our prob-prob-prob-prob-pr?" Psi began only to glitch, he shook his head, able to stop himself.

"You ok?" Clara eyed him.

"Drive glitch. It's fine."

"Guilt is our problem. Guilt, in this bank, is fatal." The Doctor stated, "The Teller can hear it. Ever since that first case was opened, we've been targets. The more we know about why we're here, the louder our guilt screams. That's why we wiped our memories. For our own safety. Now, once I open this, I can't close it again."

"Would it be safer if only one of us learned it?" Psi asked.

"I'm waiting for you to volunteer." The Doctor looked at him.

"Er, why me?"

"Because you were able to manually delete your memories." Raven stated as though it were obvious, which it kind of was, "you didn't actually need a worm."

"Ok," he sighed, popping the case open, only to frown and shake his head, "I don't know what it is. You may as well have a look. Well, what are they?" he turned the case to the Doctor, who held one of the 7 tubes, pressing in foam inserts, around the same size as a hand with metal pins on the end, like a grenade but in tube form.

"Not a clue." The Doctor eyed them.

"Hmm, interesting." Saibra eyed him.

"What is?"

"You're lying."

"Er, why would he be lyi-lyi-lyi-lying?" Psi glitched again, "Ugh. Sorry. Stress. Drains the batteries."

"Interface with that," the Doctor pointed to the console on the wall.

"It's a shredder," Raven realised, tossing one in the air and catching it again.

"Like a grenade?" Clara frowned. She had given up asking how Raven knew about this, "does it kill you?"

"An exit strategy." She neither agreed nor denied.

"Do we have time for this?" Saibra cut in.

"Well, why not?" The Doctor countered, "There's no immediate threat."

Immediately after the words left his mouth an alarm began to blare, "Warning. Intruders detected."

"Don't say things like that." Raven closed her eyes, exasperated.

"Sorry."

"Intruders detected."

"Clara, you stay with Psi. Raven, Saibra, let's go and investigate."

"Why do I have to go with you?" Raven demanded.

"Do you want to stay behind with them? You're more than welcome to."

"No." She pouted, walking off as the Doctor rolled his eyes after her.

That kid was going to be the death of him.

~.~

"Aren't you going to ask me?" The Doctor asked Saibra as they walked down another corridor.

"Why did you lie?" she looked at him, "Those hardware things. You knew but didn't say leaving it to Raven."

"How did you know I was lying?"

"I've had a lot of faces, I find them easy to read."

"Quite a gift."

"Gift?" She scoffed.

"It got us in here."

"Mutant gene. No one can touch me. If they do, I transform. Touch me, Doctor, and you'll be looking at yourself. I am alone."

"Why?" Raven frowned at that.

"Could you trust someone who looked back at you with your own eyes?" She looked at her.

She frowned in thought. Honestly, she hadn't really thought about it much. She liked to think that if she ever ran into another regeneration of herself they would work well together, but a part of her also knew she'd probably insult herself. She'd probably get insulted right back.

They stopped, hearing a moan to see in a cell was the male customer from earlier, mind empty with a camera above watching him.

"Oh, my God." Clara gasped as she and Psi caught up, "Why is he even still alive?"

"I don't know," the Doctor murmured, eying the camera, "but someone's watching him."

"Doctor." Psi looked away from the man, "However this goes, whatever happens, don't let me end up like that."

"Intruders on the service level. Intruders on the service level." The alarm continued forcing them to hurry on, running to another small grill in the wall.

The Doctor flashed the sonic on it, "now this says like a place to hide."

Raven squeezed through first stepping into a dark room with a foggy chamber in the centre, Clara after her followed by Saibra, Psi and the Doctor.

"Where are we?" Saibra whispered.

The Doctor peered into the mist chamber noticing the Teller hidden inside, "Nobody move," he warned, "Nobody say a word. It's cocooned. Forced hibernation. Its power is probably dormant."

They froze hearing the guards yelling and running outside.

"Did you just say forced hibernation?" Raven breathed. Oh, the poor thing. Not only was it being chained up and used to prevent theft but now it was also forced to hibernate when not needed. That wasn't fair at all.

At her voice so clear in the room the Teller jerked towards her.

"Raven..." the Doctor breathed. "It's locked on to you."

"Stating the obvious." She tensed, closing her eyes.

"It may still be asleep. Don't wake it."

"How is she supposed to do that?" Clara hissed at him.

"Keep your mind blank." He told her, watching closely, "Block everything. Once it locks onto your thoughts, it won't let go."

"Hush," she grit her teeth, eyes closed as she focused on keeping her mind blank, trying to block him out, changing her thoughts to something else, something innocent, the stars in the skies above, how they shone, the beauty of the universe. How the sun shone down on the red grass she grew up with.

"It's waking up." The Doctor held his breath as the Teller growled, "Keep blocking your thoughts. Don't think."

"Shh. I'm trying to focus and you talking is not helping!"

"Ha." Clara laughed quietly as the Doctor fell silent.

"This way," Psi called and they looked over to see he had managed to get a grill open, an exit. He went through first, Clara behind.

"Raven" the Doctor took her head and she opened her eyes, blinking at him.

It had been something her father had taught her when she was very young. A way a blank her mind. A way for no one to peek into her mind to see what she was thinking. She hadn't thought much of it, at least until he left the planet the first time. There was a few of the professors seemingly deciding that she would always know what he was doing and where in the universe he was. As soon as she caught them glimpsing in her mind she quickly shut it as shown. It came in handy even now.

She followed Clara, the Doctor behind her, looking back to see Saibra had been keeping look out. "Saibra!" He hissed to her.

There was a crash from the vent they came through, caused by the guards, causing the Teller to turn to her, making her freeze, caught in its hold.

"She's still in there!" Clara gasped, "How do we get her out?"

"It's scanning her brain." The Doctor told them.

"Then what?" Psi swallowed.

"Soup."

"Then help her!" Clara glared at him.

"The shredder." Raven hissed.

He nodded, pulling one out of his pocket, "Saibra!" He called.

"What should I do?" She cried, "How do I get away?"

"It's rooting through your brain." He told her, solemn, "It's tasting all the secrets stashed inside. Any moment now, it will finish its sweep and start feasting on what's left."

"And then I become one of those things we saw sitting in a cage?"

"Yes."

"Can you not get me out?" She winced, grabbing her head as the pain worsened.

"I'm sorry. I don't know how, once it's locked onto your thoughts."

"Exit strategy." She glanced at him as he tossed her the shredder, "That means what I think it means, right? Painless?"

"And instant." He nodded.

"When you meet the Architect, promise me something. Kill him."

"I hate him, but I can't make that promise."

"I could gorge their eyes out." Raven called. There was something about the Architect, the way he was planning all this, it just irritated her and she wanted to throw something at him. The TARDIS manual seemed heavy enough.

"A good man." Saibra laughed, ignoring Raven for the moment, "left it too late to meet one of those." She closed her eyes, pulling on the pin and disappeared in a flash of blue light, making the Teller roar in frustration.

The Doctor turned and ushered them out into another empty corridor.

"Right, vault." The Doctor clapped his hands, "That's clear. What's not clear is what we do now."

"Hey. You ok?" Clara eyed him closely.

"No, I'm an amnesiac robbing a bank. Why would I be ok?"

"Because Saibra..."

"Is dead." Raven finished, "we are not."

"Prioritise if you want to stay that way." The Doctor rolled his eyes at them.

"Oh, is that why you call yourself the Doctor?" Psi glared. Without Saibra they never would have gotten this far and he was just waving her off like nothing, "The professional detachment."

"Listen." The Doctor rounded on him, "When we're done here, by all means, you go and find yourself a shoulder to cry on. You'll probably need that. Till then, what you need is me." He stalked off down the corridor, Raven on his tail.

"Seriously…are you ok?" Raven asked him leaving Clara to defend him from Psi as he slid into an alcove just before the vault door, a set of controls and another case.

He just gave a heavy sigh, rubbing his face.

She took that to mean no, no he was not fine.

"Another gift from the Architect." He murmured as the two remaining humans joined them, "Shall we unwrap it?" he opened it without waiting for an answer, revealing a card and a small handheld device.

Psi picked up the device seeing the small port on the side, connecting himself to it, wincing as he downloaded the information. Raven taking the card, frowning at it, TECH 251 ORG 339 PV, sliding it into her pocket for later.

"Right, the system looks like it's time-delayed." Psi called, "There are 24 lock codes I need to break."

Clara looked down the corridor, hearing growling, "Doctor?" she breathed, "It's coming. We're trapped."

"Psi, how long?" the Doctor asked him.

"As long as it takes."

"It's locked on to one of our thought trails. We have to split up, minimise the brain signals."

"I'll give you a hand," Raven squeezed past Psi further into the alcove, helping to break the locks.

"No!" the Doctor shook his head, "Raven, no."

"We'll be quicker with two. Psi can erase his guilt and I can blank my mind. We'll be fine. I'm good at this sort of stuff."

"You're a pilot." He remembered back on Gallifrey, she had graduated after he and the Master had gone to fight across the universe. He had been dragged back a few times and once they bumped into each other. And he found out she was working as a pilot at the shuttle station. One of the youngest in a long time. Most usually had to go through a bit of training after the Academy, but she went straight in.

"I'm clever." She held up two of the shredders.

"What, no!" Clara cried. "Raven!"

"Just in case." She wasn't sure if the shredders did actually kill. There was a nagging in the back of her mind that said they didn't and even if they did…her family was dead. What was wrong with joining them?

"Raven…" the Doctor sighed, hearing the Teller shuffling closer. "Right, Clara, with me."

"Time to run." Psi muttered.

The Doctor and Clara took off leaving Raven with Psi to break the locks.

The man scoffed as he took the even locks, Raven taking the odds.

"What?" she didn't stop.

"How do you deal with the 'personal detachment?"

She shrugged, "I'm only with him for the free food and a place to sleep."

"So he isn't your dad?" he asked hesitatingly. He wasn't 100% sure, the way they acted wasn't much of a father-daughter relationship but he could see that the man did care for the girl. More than the rest of them.

"Oh, hell, no!" she grimaced, shaking her head in disgust, "no, no! Urgh, no! He was my father's best friend, he just…he cares for me since his passing."

"I'm sorry." He offered before going back to work, the two working quickly. In silence, neither really caring about what the other were here for.

Psi looked up from his last lock as Clara screamed.

"Psi…" Raven eyed him, seeing what he was about to do. And she wouldn't stop him.

He ignored her, grabbing one of the Shredders and taking off at a run, leaving her to finish off.

"Vault locks opening." She heard a moment later, "24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17…"

"Come on!" she swallowed hard hearing Psi, "Come and find me! Every thief and villain in one big cocktail. I am so guilty! Every famous burglar in history is hiding in this bank right now in one body. Come and feast! Clara? For what it's worth, and it might not be worth much, when your whole life flashes in front of you, you see people you love and people missing you. Well, I see no one."

Raven closed her eyes as Psi screamed, the Teller roaring as Psi disappeared. She remembered the rumours back in the Academy 'she was an omen of death'. And it was true.

"3, 2, 1…Failed."

"What?" Raven breathed, shifting out of the alcove as the Doctor and Clara came running over.

"Vault unlocking failed."

"No!" Clara hurried to the door, turning the wheel on the front, but…nothing, "It's not opening. Psi. He died for nothing."

The Doctor frowned moving the alcove, using the sonic, "Multiple locks. Last one still in place. Atomic seal. Unbreakable, even for me. The Architect would know that. He wouldn't bring us all this way for nothing."

"And get two people killed." Clara added.

"There must be some logic…" Raven shook her head.

"Some logic?" Clara gaped at her. "two people are dead, Raven!"

"You aren't." she countered.

"Come on, Architect." The Doctor muttered, "What else have you got?" he looked up at the rumbling of thunder from above them, "A storm. The storm's tripping the system. That's what he's got, a storm."

"How would he know when a storm would hit?" Clara frowned.

"Of course. Stupid, stupid Doctor." He laughed, "Of course, of course."

"Of course, what?" she shook her head.

"Whoever planned all this, they're in the future. This isn't just a bank heist, it's a time travel heist. We've been sent back in time to the exact moment of the storm, to be in exactly the right place when it hits, because that's the only time the bank is vulnerable."

Another rumble of thunder, the lights flashing, "Vault unlocked." The computer called and the door swung open.

"The bank is now open." He led them inside the vault, "Come on."

"It explains why we're not here in the TARDIS." Raven commented as they entered the large golden room, lined with rows of safety deposit boxes that went on form miles.

"It does?" Clara frowned.

"The solar disruption would have made navigation impossible."

"The one time the bank is vulnerable is the one time we can't just land." The Doctor agreed.

"TECH 251," Raven read the card she took from the case.

"Technology. 251. Find it." The Doctor called as they spilt up, each taking a row.

"Tech." Clara called and they gathered around, thankfully at arms reach of the Doctor who pulled it open to reveal a small case, popping it open to see a small, fat syringe, with a glowing blue substance inside.

"It's a neophyte circuit." The Doctor remarked, "I've only ever seen one once before. It can reboot any system, replace any lost data."

"Psi." Clara realised, "That's what he came for, his reward."

"So what did Saibra come for?"

"ORG 339," Raven read off the card. And they were off again, finding it lower to the ground, a small bottle inside a case.

"Gene suppressant." The Doctor stated.

"She wanted to be normal." Clara remarked.

"Everyone has a weakness." The Doctor shrugged, "So the big question is this. What did we come for?" he glanced at Raven. In the recording she said she was doing it for her own sonic. But surely that wouldn't be here. A bribe still in the TARDIS once they were done here?

"PV." Raven glanced at the card, "private vault. Karabraxos's own fortune?" she frowned. That didn't seem quite right. What would they need a fortune for? She had had money once before, as the Prime Ministers daughter. She never did care too much for it. It was just bits of paper really.

The Doctor turned around the corner only to walk straight into the Teller.

~.~

The trio were led into a posh office on the top floor of the bank, two armoured guards behind them, one with their helmet on, the other staring ahead as they escorted the trio to their boss. The Teller to the side.

"Intruders are most welcome." The ginger woman smiled at them, "They remind us that the bank is impregnable. It's good for morale to have a few of you scattered about the place, preferably on view." She gestured to the monitor on the wall showing the cells of the Tellers' victims. "Are you ready for your close-up? If you're thinking of ways to escape, the Teller will know before you've even made a move. You'll never be bothered by all that thinking again."

"Useful species." The Doctor eyed the Teller.

"Last of its kind, and we've signed an exclusive deal."

"Must be noisy inside its head. Painful to listen to so much chatter, so many secrets. Must drive it wild."

"How can you force it to obey?" Raven glared at the woman. She knew it. She knew the Teller didn't have a choice. She had said so.

"Oh, everything has a price tag, I think you'll find." She waved her off, looking up at the raging storm above them. "The storm's getting worse. The customers are leaving. Director Karabraxos will be concerned. Our jobs will be on the line."

"You're scared." The Doctor noted.

"Oh, I'm terrified. I have the disadvantage of knowing Karabraxos personally."

"If you don't like your boss, why stay?" Raven shook her head.

"My face fits. Now if you'll excuse me, I must take the Teller to its hibernation. You two," she looked at her guards, "dispose of our guests." The woman left through a set of doors, the Teller obediently following.

The guards waited until the doors shut before turning to the trio. The Doctor staring at them, "Don't do this. I'm having a very bad day, and I do not want to be pushed around."

"You're wrong." The helmet-less guard spoke.

"Wrong?" he frowned.

"It's not that bad a day. And you're being very slow."

"Why are you undoing my handcuffs?" the Doctors frown deepen as they free unchained.

The guard grinned and turned back into Saibras' usual self as the other removed his helmet reveal Psi.

"It looked like death." He smiled, "It was actually a teleporter."

"Oh, my God." Clara hugged him, knowing Saibra wouldn't be fond of them with her circumstances.

"Good, eh?" Psi smirked, "You think we're dead, so the Teller thinks we're dead, and we play the creature at his own mind games."

"No, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait." The Doctor shook his head, "What? Sorry, sorry, what? You...you're alive?"

"Yeah, we're alive." Saibra smiled, "Look at us. We're all alive."

"No, no, no, no. Not dead. Alive."

"There's an escape ship in orbit. " Psi explained, "Takes you right there. Oh, and there's this big blue box. Is that yours?"

"Well, this is good, I suppose. You'll be able to resume the mission. Gene suppressant." He handed the bottle to Saibra, "Antidote for your condition. Memory giver." And gave Psi the syringe, "All your yesterdays. There you go. Job done, paid in full. Clever old Architect."

"Very clever." Saibra agreed.

"I still hate him."

"Me too."

"I want to throw a book at him." Raven remarked. "And maybe stab him in the eye."

"How were you paid?" Psi asked

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted, "There's something in the private vault."

They grinned realising that now two were 'dead' and three were being dealt with by guards that no one would be paying them any attention.

~.~

They headed back down to the vault, quicker this time as they knew the layout better than last time and knew where the vault was.

"What is that?" Raven frowned at the tubes and wires running up the side of the shaft.

"Supply line." Psi explained, "It's the only oxygen down to the private vault. There's another one for water, for basic life support."

"What, for a private vault?" Clara frowned.

"Someone likes to hang out with their wealth." The Doctor reasoned as he knelt to sonic the grilling, allowing them inside.

It wasn't much like a vault, more of a show room, carpeted with a high ceiling, carved wooden beams, Morzarts' 'Overtune To The Abduction From The Seraglio' playing in the background. Displays of artefacts and treasures from all over history in the room.

"Director Karabraxos?" the Doctor spoke, facing the high backed chair facing away from them, "Excuse us, but we've come to rob you. So if you want to put your hands above your head, or…"

The chair spun around the reveal the same ginger woman, her hands raised, as the music cut off, "Or?" she raised an eyebrow, "You didn't bring any weapons. That's a bit of an oversight. Security," she pressed a button on her desk, "Karabraxos here."

"You're Karabraxos?" Raven pointed at her. She was identical to the other woman from earlier.

"One moment." The woman held up a finger, flicking on a monitor to reveal…herself, dressed differently, sitting in the top office.

"Director Karabraxos, is there a problem?" the other woman questioned.

"Intruders in the private vault. Send me the Teller. I want to find out how they got in, and then I want to wipe their memories."

"She's a clone." The Doctor realised. This just reminded him of the time the Master turned every human on Earth into himself. He grimaced, that was not a fun day.

"It's the only way to control my own security. I have a clone in every facility. Get on it right away."

"Yes, of course." The clone nodded.

"And then hand in your credentials." Karabroxos continued, "You're fired, with immediate effect."

"But please," the clone pleaded, "I've been in your service…"

"Ever since the last one let me down and I was forced to kill it. I can't quite believe that you're putting me through this again." She rolled her eyes, ending the transmission, "My clone. And yet she doesn't even protest. Pale imitation, really. Ha! I should sue."

"You're killing her?" Clara breathed, "You just said…"

"Fired? I put all of the used clones into the incinerator. Can't have too many of moi scattered around."

"Sorry, you don't get on with your own clone?" Psi stared at her.

"She hates her own clones." The Doctor corrected, "She burns her own clones. Frankly, you're a career break for the right therapist…" his eyes widened as he realised something, "Shut up. Everybody, just, just shut up."

"And what is this display now, as amusing as you are?" Karabraxos scoffed.

"Shut up!" he shouted at her, "Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shutetty up up up. What, what did you say?" he turned and pointed at Saibra, "What did you say? What did you say about your own eyes? De-shut up. Say it again."

"How can you trust someone if they look back at you out of your own eyes?" she recited.

"I know one thing about the Architect. What is it that I know about the Architect? I know one thing. Something that I've known from the very start."

"You hate him." Raven blinked. He had said it enough times, too many in fact for her to just let it slide.

He snapped his fingers at her, "He's overbearing, he's manipulative, he likes to think that he's very clever."

"A bit like you."

He pointed at her again, "I hate him! I hate the Architect."

"Oh!" she grinned, figuring it out. "Oh that makes so much sense now."

"What in the name of sanity is going in this room now?" Karabraxos demanded.

"We're getting sanity judgment from the self-burner." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, "Do you mind if I borrow a little bit of paper?"

"And what are you doing now?" she rolled her eyes as he grabbed some paper without a reply.

"I'm giving you my telephone number." He scribbled the number down.

"Why?"

He folded the paper over and write a message, sliding it to her, "Well, I thought you might like to call me someday." He tapped the message 'We are time travellers.' "Sorry, I thought we were getting along famously. Am I, like, misreading the signals or something?" he looked up as the lights flickered, the sound rumbling again, "Oh, that was a big one, wasn't it? I think that your bank is about to close for good, Karabraxos. If I was you, I'd get going. Don't mind us, we'll just stay here and burn."

Karabraxos pursed her lips, the alarms being to blare in warning of the storm, the worse one yet and moved to grab a bag, packing.

"Hard to know what to take." The Doctor remarked, "The greatest treasures of the universe in just one suitcase."

"Doctor, what's the plan?" Clara called as the room began to shake, "Raven, is there a plan?"

"We can use the shredders and get us back to the ship." Saibra suggested.

"They're not shredders," Raven shook her head, not if both Psi and Saibra had survived, "they're teleports."

"And that's not the most interesting thing about them." The Doctor added.

"So what is?"

"There were seven of them." Raven muttered. One for each of them. And two spares.

"Hey." The Doctor snapped his fingers as Karabraxos moved to leave the bank, "Give me a call me some time."

"You'll be dead." She stated.

"Yeah, you'll be old. We'll get on famously. You'll be old and full of regret for the things that you can't change." He mimicked her phoning him as the lift doors closed on her.

"Doctor, what the hell is going on?" Psi demanded.

"Are you remembering?" Clara eyed him.

"No, not a thing. But I'm understanding."

"What? What is it? What are you understanding?"

"I'm not sure yet. I need my memory back. And I think there's only one way to do that."

"Which would be?"

"Soup." He stated.

"Soup?"

"Soup." Raven agreed as the Teller entered through the lift.

"Hello, big man." The Doctor grinned, rushing over to the lift so they would try to stop him. "Peckish?"

"Doctor!" Clara gasped as the Teller caught him in its mental grasp, Raven, of course, not caring about the trouble he got himself into.

"No, no." the Doctor dropped to his knees from the pain, "Let it take me. Let it read me. It's the only way."

"It will kill you!" Clara cried, but made no move to stop him.

"What have I told you about pessimism?" the Doctor closed his eyes as the Teller eyes drew closer together, "That's it, that's it. There are so many memories in here. Feast on them. Tuck in. Big scarf, bow tie, bit embarrassing. What do you think of the new look? I was hoping for minimalism, but I think I came up with magician. In the last few days, there's been a block. Can you see the block? Tell me why I'm here. Show me why I'm here. Show me!"

He gasped, his eyes flying open as he remembered. Karabraxos had rung them when she was old and dying, how he had organised everything, he was the Architect. He had met with the older customer, gotten his DNA, found Psi and Saibra. How they had all agreed to wipe their minds. Forgetting everything to save their guilt.

"Did you see why we came?" the Doctor looked up at the Teller as he collapsed to the floor, free from its grasp. "Why we're here? We had to delete our own memories, otherwise you'd have known, and then she'd have known, because you were mentally linked. But she's gone now. They've all gone. They have no power over you now. You can do exactly what you want to do now. Exactly what you've always wanted to do."

The Teller turned to a safe in the back, the lock beginning to move.

"It knows the combination." Psi's eyes widened as the Teller opened it.

"Of course it does. It was linked to Karabraxos." Raven remarked, "but not by choose."

"What exactly are we doing here?" Clara huffed, "That thing killed people."

"Well so might you do, to protect everything you loved." The Doctor defended.

The safe door swung open to reveal a second creature, in a straight jacket

"There she is." The Doctor smiled, "Not the last of its species. The last two."

Raven rushed inside the safe, the Doctor tossing her the sonic as she worked to unchain the poor thing as it wailed. "its ok." She soothed the poor creature, "its ok now. It's all alright. We're here to help."

"Exit strategy." Saibra realised, "We've got seven shredders."

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded, "This wasn't a bank heist. It never was. It was rescue mission for a whole species. Flesh and blood, the last currency. Time to go home. What do you think of that, big man?" he glanced to the male Teller who roared in delight. Reunited with the second to last of its kind.

~.~

They had taken the creatures to a peaceful planet as they walked off side-by-side through the quite nature around them. Left in peace at long last.

They had then decided on a take away, Chinese, Ravens request, before the Toclafane broke into the past, when they were still working their plan, they had tried Chinese and she was quite fond of it, surprisingly.

She rolled her eyes as the Doctor made a joke about the Leaning Tower of Pisa while they finished their food before taking them all back home.

"If you ever need help with another bank heist." Psi shook the Doctors hand, sending a nod to Raven, the girl returning it.

Clara gave him a goodbye hug, whispering, "Yeah, it's not really his area."

The Doctor mimicked a 'phone us' sign as the man left the TARDIS, Raven piloting them to drop Saibra off a moment later.

The woman moved to hug him in thanks, her hands free from gloves now she no longer needed them, "See?" she smiled, "I don't have your face now."

"Yeah. I kind of miss that." He chuckled.

"Oh, shut up." She laughed.

"At least you get away from him." Raven called.

"Oi!" he huffed.

Saibra grinned as she too left the TARDIS and Raven took them back to Clara's flat, "ok...two minutes after we left." She told the woman.

"Go and enjoy yourself." The Doctor ushered her off, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"It's a date." Clara grinned, "You know, I've just realised. I'm going out for another meal now."

"Don't worry. Calories consumed on the TARDIS have no lasting effect."

"What?" she gaped at him, "Are you kidding?"

"You believe that?" Raven scoffed, "It's not possible to eat but not consume calories."

"It's a time machine, not a miracle worker." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her. "Bye, bye." The Doctor ushered her out of the doors.

"Don't rob any banks without me."

"Course not boss." The Doctor agreed, closing the door as she left, "Robbing a bank. Robbing a whole bank. Please tell me that was your first time robbing a bank?" he glanced at Raven.

She blinked, "who do you think I am?" she mocked being hurt, "it was actually. May do it again…" she trailed.

He shook his head, "I'll make you a deal. If you don't rob any banks without me…I'll give you a sonic."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes in disbelieve, "yeah, fine," she agreed, a hand out, "give me my own sonic."

He pulled out a small cubed box from in inside coat pocket and tossed it to her, smirking at her stare of disbelieve.

"You're kidding me," she mumbled, staring at him before opening the box finding inside a golden wing, she had seen the earth girls wearing them, an ear cuff, she recalled. Like an earring but instead of just in their earlobes, it went clipped around the edge. "Seriously?" she gaped at him. "Thank you," she told him, the most sincere she had ever been. "Really. Thank you, you really didn't need to…" considering he even knew she had been the one to make the Masters laser screwdriver the fact he trusted her enough to borrow his, let alone make her her own.

"Now you can work on a wood setting on that instead of taking mine," he grinned.

She stepped closer to him, looking like she was almost going to hug him before taking a step back again, "You're not half bad, Doc."

**A/N: seeing as my country is in lockdown, i'm probably going to get a lot more editing done being at home more, so hopefully they'll be more updates too.**


	9. The caretaker

Raven blinked as she lost her paragraph from her book as she sat in her armchair. Because it was hers. No one else really used it. Sometimes late at night she found the Doctor sitting in it, usually because he had ended up falling asleep. And Clara hardly needed to use it as she usually just took the steps when she sat down. She had on occasion used it after she gotten blisters on her feet.

They had been in a desert planet with twin suns. Only to get chained to some pillar and left to die by the natives. But before that they had walked quite a distance in the heat and she had been in thick boots. The heat and sweat had ended up giving her blisters. They had managed to get free after struggling for a couple of hours. The Doctor had lost his screwdriver but luckily she had her sonic earring. The natives hadn't thought anything of it and so she had managed to activate it, getting them all free before the sand piranhas had reached them. Poor Clara had gotten quite burnt as well, using the excuse of trying out a sunbed for the first time to her questioning friends and students.

They also gone to a lovely underwater planet, a way to relax. Raven had noticed that during the past few months Clara seemed to be getting more and more stressed for the adventures and dealing with teenagers at the school and so had suggested the place to relax. She still didn't know why she had done that, usually if she noticed someone was stressed she would try to stress them out even more. But yet here she was with Clara, helping to calm the woman down. What was wrong with her nowadays?

It was a nice planet, completely underwater, with a few tunnels for off worlders to walk through. The Doctor had ended up insulting the natives. Fish people. Like a reverse mermaid, fish head with human legs. They'd ended up having to run for their lives because of him. She had been covered in seaweed and it had taken a few showers to get the smell of fish off her.

They had also ended up on a military commander planet and ended up running back to the TARDIS for their lives, avoiding being shot by soldiers. The Doctor, of course, had insulted them.

After those few adventures she herself was getting tired and she dreaded to think how Clara, a human, was surviving while also trying to deal with teenagers 5 days a week and keep both lives separated.

She sighed, closing her book, giving up re-reading the same words multiple times. Her eyes just weren't focusing today and headed down to join the Doctor at the console, frowning at the monitor while also piloting to Claras flat.

"So…" she looked over as Clara barged it, "where we off to?"

"Clara," the Doctor smiled, peeking round from the other side of the console at her, "you look lovely today. Have you had a wash?"

She stopped and squinted at him with suspicious eyes, "why are you being nice?"  
"Because it works on you."

"No it doesn't." Raven snorted. Yep, she could still insult someone.

"Listen," the Doctor continued, "I'm sorry but there's going to be no trip today. I'm sorry. Er, we've got to do a thing. It might take a while."

"What thing?" Clara narrowed her eyes.

"Just a thing."

"You're being mysterious, and do you know what means?"

"I'm a man of mystery!"

Clara scoffed at that, "It means that you are a very clever man making the mistake, common to very clever people, of assuming that everybody else is stupid. Where are you going?" she made to look at the monitor but Raven turned it round to her before she could, changing the screen.

"Ha!" she stuck her tongue out.

Clara rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, clearly they were both in on this.

"Undercover." The Doctor answered her, "Deep cover."

"Can you do deep cover?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you seen you?" she snorted. "I'm mean Raven, yeah, I didn't recognise her when we first met."

"That was kind of the point." She called.

"Of course I can do deep cover." The Doctor defended.

"Where, the Magic Circle?" Clara giggled.

The Doctor snapped his fingers, opening the doors, "we'll see you when we see you."

Clara countered the action, snapping her own fingers and closing the doors again, "When's that?"

The Doctor snapped his fingers again, but the doors remained shut. He turned to Raven at the console, "you were letting a draft in." she shrugged.

"Are you ganging up on me?" he frowned between them.

"Seriously, what are you doing without me?" Clara demanded.

"We'll see you when we see you." He told her, snapping his fingers again, the doors opening this time.

"Hmm." Clara eyed him, "I'll be sure to have a wash."

"Excellent." He nodded, "I was meaning to bring it up…"

She walked backwards to the doors, eying them suspiciously, pointing at her eyes and back at them, showing that she'd been keeping an eye on them before shutting the door behind her.

"So," The Doctor grinned at Raven, "undercover!"  
"No." she deadpanned.

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Perception filter?" he suggested.

"Stay in the TARDIS." She glared.

"Easy way out."

"It's a big school, someone's bound to recognise me eventually."

"A school of pudding brains." He added.

"True," she nodded, "still not doing it."

~.~

Raven brought up Coal Hill staff room on the monitor in the TARDIS. The headmaster, Mr Armitage, was going over the notes for the day to the rest of the teachers, "Hold on, there is just one more thing." He read his notes, "Atif's off sick, so we've got a newbie, I did ask him to come along." He smiled as the man knocked on the door, "Ah, here he is." Raven rolled his eyes as he opened the door and the Doctor stepped in, dressed in a long brown coat, a broom in his hand, his deep cover disguise.

"I'm the new caretaker. John Smith." He smiled.

A young black man stepped forwards and shook his hand, "Welcome to Coal Hill, Mr Smith."

"Thanks. Yes, John Smith's the name. But, you know, here's a thing. Most people just call me the Doctor." Raven sighed dramatically as the Doctor winked at Clara, the womans' eyes wide in shock, "So, if anybody needs me, just, you know, give me a shout. I'll be in the storeroom just getting the lie of the land."

The teachers nodded, and he stepped aside to allow them to leave for assembly, "Yes, no body's taking any notice at all. Absolutely good news because it means I must be coming across just as an absolutely boring human being like you."

Clara turned and glared at him, mouthing, 'What are you doing here?' But he shut the door on her.

"Deep cover." He grinned up at the camera.

Raven rolled her eyes, of course he would know she was checking up on him. But at least her deep cover wasn't just a different coat and broom. Even a stupid human would see through that.

The door opened again and Clara stood there, crossing her arms as she faced the Doctor, clearly unimpressed, "deep cover?"

"So, you're recognised me, then." The Doctor smiled.

"You're wearing a different coat." She deadpanned.

"But you saw straight through that." The Doctor grinned.

"Deep cover in my school?" Clara glared, "Why? Where's Atif, what have you done with him?" she paused realising who wasn't with him, "where's Raven?"

He nodded to the camera in the corner, "wave at Raven."

"Hullo, Clara." She called dryly.

"How are you doing that?" she frowned at the camera.

"I'm very clever," she offered.

"Where's Atif?" she repeated.

"He's fine." The Doctor waved her off, trying to 'sweep' her out of the room with his broom, "Hypnotised. He thinks he's got the flu. Also a flying car and 3 wives. It's going to be a rude awakening."

"Is it aliens?" She gasped, "Oh, my God, is that why you're here? Are there aliens?"

"It's assembly. You'd better get going. Go and worship something."

"Are there aliens in this school?"

"But I've really got to get on." The Doctor nodded, "I'm a caretaker now. Look, I've got a brush."

"Raven, is there an alien in this school?" Clara called to the camera, guessing the girl was still listening in.

"Yes." She nodded. "And you're talking to both of us." At the moment it was just her and the Doctor as the only two aliens in the school, it wouldn't be until after hours when there was another but that wouldn't be Clara's concern.

"Now, go." The Doctor opened the door, ushering her out, "The walls need sponging and there's a sinister puddle."

"You can't do this." She shook her head, "You cannot pass yourself off as a real person among actual people."

"I lived among otters once for a month."

"You sulked." Raven scoffed.

"I lost a bet." The Doctor grumbled at Clara's quizzical gaze.

"Human beings are not otters!" Clara snapped.

"Exactly!" The Doctor grinned "It'll be even easier."

"One question. And you will answer this question. Are the kids safe?"

"No. Nobody is safe. But soon the answer will be yes, everybody is safe, if you let me get on. Go and sing with the otters." He ushered her in.

"I hate you." Clara hissed as she left.

"That's fine." He nodded, "That's a perfectly normal reaction." He glanced up at the camera "are you just going to hang around in the TARDIS, all day?"

She shrugged, not that he could see her, "I may take a little walk around the grounds."

~.~

Raven sighed as she wandered through the playground at morning break. Clara had just had a lesson with the year 10s and had been reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. It had been fine at first but apparently the Doctor had climbed up a ladder to eavesdrop but just had to correct her. She had written on the board that 1797 but in the bio it was 1796. The Doctor had called her out for it in front of the class, but refusing to be out done by him, and embarrassed by her class she had used the excuse that she had done it on purpose to see who had actually read the bio as she had instructed they did for homework last lesson.

The one thing Clara knew more about than the Doctor was Jane Austin. She loved the woman and her writing. She could even admit it was quite a good cover up.

She joined the Doctor as she knelt before junction cabinet, using ordinary tools meaning it was taking long than it would with a sonic. He was with two of the teachers, one with floppy brown hair and a bow tie remarkable similar to the Doctors previous incarnation along with the young black maths teacher, Mr Pink. None of them bothered by her, she had a small bracelet on her wrist, a perception filter to make it look like she was wearing the schools uniform.

"Of course, Danny Pink here is your man, Mr Smith." The Doctor-lookalike was saying as she approached, "5 years' military experience, sergeant, here and Afghan, so electrics, boilers, if you need a hand, give him a shout."

"I...I've helped Atif with a couple of things." Danny nodded, modest.

"I'm sure I won't need you, Sergeant." The Doctor looked at him, "Fully qualified." The box sparked and Raven quickly pressed her sonic, fixing it, "You best get back to your PE class."

She glanced back hearing a noise to see Clara was nearby, near the small garden like area, holding a water can, listening it. "What is he doing?" Clara hissed as Raven walked over.

"Fixing the box," she blinked, was that not obvious?

"I just saw you do that. With your sonic."

"Good for you." She patted the woman's head, mockingly. The good thing about a sonic like hers was that she could make it look like she was just shifting the jewellery.

While she was ever so thankful the Doctor had made her her very own, using an object that no one would question her having she just couldn't help but try to add more settings. She had already rather easily made it silent so no one would hear it as she pressed it. She was working on a wood setting as well. But now she knew just why the Doctor hadn't invented one. Wood settings were hard.

"Only because I knew what it is," Clara waved her off.

"Danny Pink…" Raven trailed, glancing back at the black man, the maths teacher, ex-soldier. "That was the date guy, yeah?"

"What? Caring about my relationships now, are we?" she joked.

"I'd hate for a decent ape like you to end up with someone bad."

Cara blinked, "I think that was the best compliment you've ever given me. I thought you didn't like us pudding brains?" she teased.

"Some of you are decent enough…" she shrugged, "Lucy…my um, step mother?" she frowned, that was a thing that they called people who married your fathers but weren't your birth mothers, "she was decent…before she shot my father…"

"Right…" Clara blinked, unsure what to say to that. "Er, excuse me." She cut in, seeing the Doctor confused that Danny could be a maths teacher when he used to be a soldier, "Mr Pink, I think class 9M4 are waiting."

"Yes, you better run along, Sergeant." The Doctor nodded to thin, "That ball isn't going to kick itself, is it?"

"I...I'm not a PE teacher," Danny shook his head, "I'm a maths teacher."

"If you say so." The Doctor muttered as the man headed to his lesson.

"So, Pink?" Clara looked at the Doctor once the man was out of earshot, "The name remind you of anything?"

"Yeah." He nodded, "The colour."

"Colonel Orson Pink? The guy we met at the end of the universe."

"Oh, yeah. Same name, doesn't look anything like him though."

"Looks very like him."

"Does he? I don't know. Humans," the Doctor shrugged, "you all look alike."

"Thanks," Clara huffed.

"This is the same man who through you were the Cyberhead," Raven pointed out. "And a Sontaran."

"What are you doing?" Clara frowned, seeing the Doctor place a small device in the box, noticing the blinking green lights, "What...what's in there?"

"So, is he here then?" The Doctor asked instead, swinging the door shut and locking it.

"Is who here?"

"The one that you keep going on serious dates with."

"If he is, are you going to start talking like a normal human being?"

"I promise I won't. I'm being nice."

Raven snorted, "you don't understand the meaning of the word."

"And you do?" he scoffed.

"More than you."

"Don't be stupid."

"I think you'll find you're the idiot, Doc."

Clara sighed at them both, "really..." all they ever seemed to do was argue, especially about the littlest things.

"Clara." The bow tie doctor-like teacher approached, "Got this period free, yes?"

"No," she answered promptly before sighing, "yes..."

"Great." He grinned, not noticing how annoyed Clara seemed, "Shakespeare!"

"That's the boyfriend yeah?" The Doctor asked Raven as they walked down the corridor.

"No." She shook her head.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"How can you be sure?"

"Clara has better taste and she told me."

"Right." He frowned, surprised that Clara had told Raven, he assumed the girl must have seen her with him, getting a bribe from her or something. He tutted noticing a bit of graffiti on a window. 'Ozzie loves the squadie', "kids," he scoffed, utterly oblivious to what it meant, despite how obvious it was that Clara loved Danny the ex-soldier. "What are you doing now?"

She shrugged, "hiding in the TARDIS for the next hour."

"Tell you what, though." He grinned, "no one recognise you."

"Then they're oblivious apes."

He rolled his eyes at that.

~.~

She sat in her armchair, in the TARDIS where they had parked in the caretakers' storeroom, more like a shed really, full of equipment or supplies. The man still wandering the corridors, on his way over, "Ok!" She heard him enter the room and got up, heading down to the console, "Now we're in business. Let's see the lie of the land. Time to see what's going on."

"Hello?" A young girl called, "Oi. What are you doing? I know you're in there!"

The Doctor sighed, glancing at Raven but she merely stared back at him, waiting.

"There's been a spillage in Geography," the girl continued, "I need some paper towels."

He rolled his eyes, exiting the TARDIS, "Can't you read?" He asked her.

"Course I can read." She scoffed, "Read what?"

"The door. It says, Keep Out."

"No, it says, Go Away Humans."

"What?" He frowned, checking the sign himself, "Oh, so it does. Never lose your temper in the middle of a door sign."

"What was you doing in there?" The girl asked, "What's that box?"

"The caretaker's box." He turned back to her, "Every caretaker has their own box."

"It says Police."

"Exactly, there's a policeman in there, in case of emergencies and children. Towels," he tossed her the roll of blue paper towels, "there you go."

"What was that green glow? There was a green glow coming from in there. What was it?"

"Of course there was. What's a policeman without a death ray? Oh, listen, there's the bell. Off you go. Haven't you got shoplifting to go to?"

"I'm going to tell the Headmaster." She warned him.

"Are you just wasting time?" Raven stepped out, growing irritated with the child.

"Yes," she answered promptly.

"Well, cut along," the Doctor ushered her off, "you're running out of time."

"For what?"

"Everything." The Doctor shrugged. "Human beings have incredibly short life spans. Frankly, you should all be in a permanent state of panic. Tick tock, tick tock."

"You're weird," the girl eyed him.

"Yes, I am. What about you."

"I'm a disruptive influence." She smirked, smug.

"Good to meet you," the Doctor shook her hand.

"And you."

"Now get lost."

The girl shrugged and turned to leave with the paper towels as Clara entered, "Hello, miss. Love to the Squaddie."

"Sorry, what did you say?" Clara turned to her as she hurried off, "What was she doing in here?"

"Paper towels." Raven stated.

"Now, I imagine you have many questions." The Doctor nodded as he returned to the TARDIS, Clara following him in, "Fire away. I won't answer any of them."

"What were they like?" She asked, joining them at the console.

"What were who like?" Raven frowned.

"The others before me. Did they let you get away with this kind of thing? This school is in danger."

"Well it's lucky I'm here then," the Doctor reasoned.

"From you." Clara deadpanned. "You," she pointed at the Doctor, "wouldn't be here if there wasn't an alien threat nearby. Your strategy for dealing with it involves endangering this school. You haven't told me anything, which means I wouldn't approve, which means you are endangering this school." The Doctor just activated his sonic, creating a holographic green glowing globe in the middle of the room. "What's that?"

"It's a scanner." Raven deadpanned.

"I'm scanning." He agreed, "Why do I keep you around?"

"Because the alternative would be developing a conscience of your own." Clara answered.

"And you need someone to show off too" Raven added.

"And you and Raven would end up killing each other. Scanning for what?"

"Any alien technology in this vicinity should show up." The Doctor remarked, frowning at her, "I used to have a teacher exactly like you once."

"You still do." Clara snorted, "Pay attention." She frowned at the scanner seeing an what looked like a four legged machine with an alien sat in it, like an insect, with weapons where it's arms should be, "What the hell is it?"

"Is it...A Skovox Blitzer?" Raven frowned at it, vaguely recognising it.

He nodded, "One of the deadliest killing machines ever created. Probably homed in here because of artron emissions. You've had enough of them in this area over the years."

"Hmm," Raven hummed, "wonder whose fault that was."

"Not a clue," he waved her off, "There's enough explosive in its armoury to take out the whole planet."

"Then leave it alone." Clara suggested.

"Oh sure," Raven grinned, "and we'll let a stupid ape stumble upon it and accidently provoke it. Causing it to go on a rampage, killing everyone in its way. See?" she turned to the Doctor, "I told you Clara would prefer that."

Clara just look unamused.

"The world is full of PE teachers." The Doctor sighed.

"So, your insanely dangerous plan is…?" Clara asked, blinking as the Doctor held up a wrist watch, "A new watch. Tiny bit disappointed."

"Wait," Raven smirked as the Doctor lit the watch on, pressing a button and vanishing before their eyes. She wondered what he'd do without her. He had failed miserably with making that, ending up huffing and pouting, and it pained him so much to ask her to make it for him.

"Doctor?" She looked around expecting the man to show himself directly before his face, "you're invisible!" She laughed, "oh that's..."

"Ow!" Raven cried, rubbing her nose.

"Did you just flick her nose?"

Raven slapped the air besides her, hearing a cry and the Doctor reappeared besides her, rubbing his cheek, "So, I give the Blitzer a tiny whiff of non-threatening alien tech," he spoke, "I lead it back here, but I don't want it to scan me, hence invisible."

"So you're leading the thing here?" She stared at him, "To a school? My...my school?"

"My school?" He scoffed, "Oh that is telling. This is the only suitably empty place in the area. I've set up a circle of time mines around the school. Chronodyne generators." He tossed her a small black device with a blinking green light, "Bit unstable. We switch them on, the Blitzer gets sucked into a big old time vortex, billions of years into the future. It's dead easy. Tiny bit boring. Raven will read a book and I'll have a sandwich...and we'll end up insulting each other."

"Like every other day." Raven smirked.

"You're not doing this alone." Clara shook her head.

"Well, you can either help us with this or spend the evening with your boyfriend. If you stay with us, be warned you may get attack by a book."

"We'll see you tomorrow." The Doctor ushered her out, seeing she preferred the second option, "We'll go somewhere nice. Ancient Egypt. Crocodilopolis. They worship a big crocodile there, so the name is a useful coincidence. Go and canoodle with your boyfriend. Come on. I wasn't born yesterday. Far from it." He smiled at her.

"You recognised him?" Clara frowned.

"Possible reminded me of a certain dashing young time traveller."

Raven rolled her eyes, amused, the Doctor was talking about the bow tie teacher, while she knew it was the maths teacher. And Clara didn't realise that. Thinking that the Doctor recognised him from going through his timeline. Neither seemed to understand they were talking about the other, "haven't you got a job to do, Clara?"

"Yes!" She beamed, "yeah, you're right."

~.~

Raven rushed through the schools after hours, the only one there as the Doctor used the invisible watch to find the Blitzer and lure it back here. She had been checking that all of the Chronodyne generators were still on green but they weren't. One was missing and she didn't know which one but even just the one offline and the vortex would be unstable.

She cursed loudly in Gallifreyan as she rushed into the assembly hall were they had a circle of chairs each with a mine in the back, all blinking red instead of the green they should be.

"Raven!" The Doctor shouted as the doors burst open and she heard him running in, switching off the watch and appearing at her side, "I told you to stay in the TARDIS."

"I know but then I heard the warning alarms that one of the mines had been tampered with," she countered, gesturing to the generators.

"No, no, no, no, no." He groaned, the Blitzer following, blasting the doors open.

"Range 1.49 scan complete problem problem."

"Listen." The Doctor tried, stepping before Raven as she began to sonic the mines, trying to get them all back online, "we're unarmed. We're peaceful. Don't you understand? I…I know that you shouldn't be on this planet but I can help you with that."

"Problem solution destroy." The Blitzer stated.

"I want a word with you." Raven closed her eyes as Danny Pink stormed in, one of the generators in his hand.

"You…!" she hissed. He had tampered with them.

"Problem solution destroy." The Blitzer repeated, moving and shooting in Danny's direction as the man dove into the floor, dropping the mine as she slide across the floor to the others, turning green as the Doctor flashed his sonic, activating them, a vortex appearing in the middle of the room, sucking the Blitzer towards it. "Temporal disrupt. Warning warning. Temporal failure."

The Doctor looked up as he pulled Raven away from the vortex as Clara entered running to help Danny, "No! Doctor!" She shouted to him, "Doctor, stop!"

"Warning system failure. Abort. Abort."

As soon as the Blitzer disappeared the Doctor flicked the vortex, "Oh, oh, well done, PE, brilliant work." The Doctor sneered at the man, "What's this? A chronodyne generator? I'll just deactivate that, shall I? I've got a swimming certificate so that qualifies me to meddle with higher technology. Never mind that some people are actually trying to save the planet. Oh, no. There's only room in my head for cross-country and the offside rule."

"Danny, what are you doing here?" Clara asked him.

She had gone to find him to tell him that they could go on a date seeing how the Time Lords didn't need her. It seemed she had been too late.

"I was checking up on him." Danny glared at the Doctor who rolled his eyes, "He's been up to something, fiddling with the electric. Did you see that thing? Tell me you saw that thing."

"I saw the thing, yeah." She agreed, "Doctor, are we safe? Is the planet safe? It's gone?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, for the moment." He nodded, "But the thing is, you see, the chronodyne generators have to be precisely aligned to generate the vortex. But the sergeant here, he went and moved one." He glared at the man.

"But the chronodyne worked. It's gone."

He checked his sonic, "But not far enough. The vortex will open here again, but not in a billion years."

"Then when?" Clara huffed.

"3 days?" Raven guessed.

"3 days to think of something new because now it knows what to expect." The Doctor scowled, "Now it has scanned me and it will kill me on sight, thanks to PE here."

"Clara, why are you talking to him like that?" Danny eyed her as he got to his feet, "Why are you using words like chronodyne? Was that thing a space thing? Oh..." he moved away from her, realising, "Oh, my God, you're from space!" He gasped, "You're a spacewoman. You said you were from Blackpool."

"It's a play!" Clara quickly made up an excuse, "For the summer fete."

"No one is stupid enough to believe that." Raven muttered, "Well…" she glanced at the Doctor.

"Oi! Seriously?"

"Yes, it's a play." Clara spun and pointed at them both in turn, "Shut up, it is a play. We are rehearsing a play. Shh. A surprise play. And, er, you see, the vortex thing is, is a lighting effect. Very clever. And that thing is, is one of the kids. In fancy dress. Really, really good fancy dress..." she trailed, realising that none of them would believe that. Not even the Doctor.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Danny stared at her.

"I'm willing to put a number on it." The Doctor muttered.

"I'm not a moron, Clara." Danny shook his head, "And he's not the caretaker. He's your dad. Your space dad. And she's…" he blinked, he had been about to say space sister but he recognised her. Looking exactly as she had been in 2007, "She's Raven Saxon." She hadn't aged a day.

"What do you know" she smirked coyly, "the first to recognise me." She turned to Clara, "you could show him the end of the universe and if he survives he's a keeper." She winked.

"No!" the Doctor yelled, "You're not taking him to the end of the universe. That destroyed Lucy."

"After a year of the human race being destroyed on the ground below."

"You're still not even a little be ashamed."

"It was centuries ago." She defended lightly, "you told me to move on. You have."

"Raven…" he sighed, "I'm trying to help you…"

"I don't need your pity."

"Is now really the time?" Clara cut in, gesturing to Danny who was just staring.

"Oh, genius." The Doctor rolled his eyes at the man, in no mood for him. He had ruined everything! "That is, that is really, really brilliant reasoning. How can you think that I'm her dad when we both look exactly the same age?"

"No," Raven shook her head, "you're really not." She sighed, moving to go back to the TARDIS, "I'll go get the memory worm..."

"No!" Clara eyes widened, "no," she swallowed, "not the memory worm..."

"Memory worm?" Danny's eyes widened, it didn't take a genius to figure out what that did.

"Danny..." Clara began slowly, "I am from Blackpool. The Doctor..." she glanced back at them Time Lords, "he and Raven are aliens."

"Hence why I haven't aged a day, and destroyed the human-race." Raven added.

"Raven…!" Clara huffed.

"I'm getting the worm!" The Doctor announced, moving to the TARDIS to get memory worm himself.

They couldn't have people knowing about Raven, it was better with people thinking she was dead. He had a duty of care. It was alright with the kid knowing, she didn't seem to believe them anyway. She would have been too young to really pay attention to the politics back then. No one would even believe her if she said anything.

"Doctor, he's my boyfriend!" Clara snapped, blinking as the man paused and stared at her for that, "I thought you figured that out."

"Him?" Raven scoffed, "you've got to be kidding."

"Him?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Danny, "but he's a soldier," he shook his head, "you made a boyfriend error, Clara. Why would you go out with a soldier? Why not get a dog or a big plant?"

"Because I love him!" She snapped

"Why would you say that?" He breathed.

She hung her head, "the Doctor, Raven and I...we travel through time and space."

"Exhibit A." The Doctor walked onto the stage, pulling the curtain apart revealing the TARDIS.

"This is a TARDIS." Raven explained, "Time and Relative Dimension In Space. She's sort of stuck as a blue police box from the 60's, bigger on the inside," she opened the doors to show him the proof. "Also got turned into a paradox machine…" she trailed, wincing able to hear the unhappy groan.

"And we travel the universe in it." Clara finished, leading Danny up. The man peering inside but not daring to step in, likely thinking he'd get trapped in there.

"And what about that thing?" He shook his head, stepped back, "Did you bring that here?"

"No. I'm going to protect you from that thing." The Doctor corrected.

"You said it was coming back." He caused.

"Yes, it is coming back, thanks to you." He sneered.

"This is a school."

"An empty school." Raven added, closing the TARDIS doors.

"We have to evacuate, call the Army."

"And that is the most dangerous thing right there." The Doctor huffed, "sure you don't want the memory worm?"

"Yes!" Clara insisted.

"But we need to get help." Danny cried, "This is an emergency!"

"Look, take him away." The Doctor waved him away, "Shut him up, shut him down. Up or down, it doesn't matter to me. I've got a lot of work to do. Again."

"You may want to go and talk to him, alone," Raven pursed her lips, watching Danny and his reaction closely, "we'll be fine." She wasn't sure if their relationship was. And there it was again, she was caring about Clara. She shouldn't be, she was merely the Doctors companions. Centuries ago she was have been very abusive to them.

"Yeah," Clara nodded, taking her arm in Danny's and leased him down the steps of the stage, "come on, Danny. It's all right. Come on, it's all fine. You'll be okay. Let's er, get those legs moving. That's it, down those stairs. Yep, that's it. This can all be explained and everything will be fine."

"And when this is all over, you can finish the job." The Doctor called after her.

She looked back at him, "what do you mean?"

"Well, you've explained us to him but you haven't explained him to us." He turned and went inside the TARDIS, not waiting for the woman's reply as Raven followed, a quick glance back.

~.~

Raven rubbed her temples as she sat in her armchair the next morning. Clara had yet to come and see them. She had taken a walk around the school, passing the maths classroom, getting a glare from Danny. She didn't know if that was because of them and Clara, or because Clara told him what she knew of the year-that-never was. She didn't care if he didn't like her for that. It technically never happened, but it still did.

The Doctor didn't seem to care how the talk went, didn't mind Clara not having spoken to them, wanting her to explain Danny to them, well, more to him. Raven didn't really care, it wasn't her place to say anything about Clara's relationships. Even if she did have some sort of affection for the woman. She needed to fix that.

She glanced down, sipping her tea, where the Doctor stood around the console working on a backpack, connecting something to it when the door opened and Clara stepped inside.

"Afternoon." The Doctor nodded to her, "Thanks for keeping out of my way. You haven't brought Dave with you, I hope."

"His name's Danny." She corrected, "And no, I haven't. I've er, I explained it all to him."

"How is he?" Raven called.

"He gets it." She nodded, "He took it really well."

Raven looked down at her as Clara slowly shut the doors behind her, "I've just remembered I don't care."

"Really…"

"Pass me that synestic." The Doctor pointed to it on the console.

She handed it over to him, "So, when the Blitzer comes back, are you going to catch him with that?"

"It'll be a long, fiddly job. It's going to take me at least 24 hours. Even longer if people keep talking to me, so do keep going." He rolled his eyes.

Clara ignored him, "If it comes back Thursday night, are you sure about that? Cos you said the chronodyne is unstable."

"If you want to bother someone, go and bother PE."

"He's a maths teacher." Clara crossed her arms.

"I'm bored!" Raven suddenly announced, "let's have some fun. Blow up a planet or something."

"That's a no on blowing up the planets," the Doctor wagged a finger at her, "But what do you say?" he glanced at Clara, "Do you want to see the Thames frozen over? Oh, those frost fairs." He moved to send them off as Clara followed, countermanding his command.

"But you can't. The Skovox thing."

"Well, why don't you admit that Danny is here." Raven purred. The man appeared standing between the console and doors.

"Now you mention it," the Doctor smirked, "being Time Lords, we can feel a light shield aura when it's right next to us."

"Oh ho, ho. Time Lord?" Danny scoffed, "Might have known."

"Might have known what?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes at him.

"Well, the accent's good, but you can always spot the aristocracy. It's in the attitude."

"Danny..." Clara warned.

"Now, Time Lords, do you salute those?"

"Definitely not." The Doctor glared.

"Ah. Sir!" He saluted.

"And you do not call me sir."

"As you wish, sir. Absolutely, sir."

"And you can get out of my TARDIS!"

"Immediately, sir!"

"Doctor," Clara cut in, "this is stupid, this is unfair."

"One thing, Clara." Danny turned to her, "I'm a soldier, guilty as charged. You see him? He's an officer."

"I am not an officer!" The Doctor snapped.

"I'm the one who carries you out of the fire." Danny continued, "He's the one who lights it. And you," he glared at Raven, clearly Clara had told him what she knew. She shouldn't have done that, "are a murderous psychopath."

She bowed mockingly, "why, thank you. I certainly try."

"Raven!" Clara shouted at her.

"Out." The Doctor sneered. "Now."

"Right away, sir." He mocked, "Straight now?"

"Now!"

"Am I dismissed?"

"Get out!" Raven glared at him

"That's him." Danny looked back at Clara, gesturing to the Doctor, "Look at him, right now. That's who he is." With that he turned and left the TARDIS.

"Danny..." Clara sighed.

"And you."

"What?" Clara blinked as the Doctor stared at her.

"Get out, Clara."

"I…" she shook her head, glancing to Raven who was staring blankly at the doors where Danny had been, "I'm sorry," she breathed, hanging her head, speaking to them both before following Danny out.

"Raven," the Doctor made her look at him.

"My tea went cold," she mumbled, pouting lightly at the cold temperature of her drink, "Do you want one? Think we deserve it."

"What's in the box?" The Doctor rolled his eyes as that as they stepped out into the storeroom to see the distributive influence from the day before, "It's not really a policeman, is it?"

"You want to know what's in that box?" He huffed, right now in no mood to deal with any pudding brains, whether a soldier or a student. They were all the same, "I'll tell you what's in that box. It's a time machine. It also travels in space. And it usually contains a man who just wants to get on with his work of preventing the end of the world, but keeps being interrupted by boring little humans."

"Cool." She grinned, moving to looking inside, "So, that's really a spaceship?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, pulling her back by the collar of her shirt, "I'm serious. I'm trying to save this planet."

"End of the world for me tonight, whatever you do. Parents' evening."

"So Disruptive Influence," Raven eyed her, bemused by the curiosity of the girl, "what's your real name?"

"If I tell you can I go in space?"

"Maybe one trip," she shrugged.

"Courtney woods."

The Doctor sighed. "We may have a vacancy. But not right now."

"Now go." Raven ushered her off.

~.~

Raven followed the Doctor towards the gymnasium where Parents' Evening was taking place. He tried to finish working in the backpack while grabbing Clara's attention. Whether to warn her that the Blitzer was coming or because he wanted her with them she didn't know.

Sadly it seemed only Danny had noticed the Doctor, though he did cough loudly, giving a jerk to the doors for Clara to spot the Doctor.

The woman rushing to join them, Danny following.

"What's happening?" Clara gasped, jumping straight into action.

"Clara, the vortex is opening." The Doctor told her.

"You said Thursday night." Danny frowned, "Right, hall, quick."

"PE, shut up." The Doctor glared, still mad at his words, "Clara, it'll scan the area. If it gets to parents' evening, it'll kill them all."

"We've got to evacuate." Danny shouted.

"Shut up!"

"Quickly." Clara cut in, "What do I do?"

"It'll be here any second. You and Raven get to the hall. Give it some squirts of helicon energy."

"No more than 3 seconds each, random pulses?" Raven confirmed.

He nodded, "Distract it, then you lead it away from the hall, give me two minutes."

"Then what?" Clara asked.

"Just run straight to the TARDIS."

"But your gadget isn't ready yet." Danny argued, "24 hours, you said."

"Yes, well, I've revised that down to two minutes. Probably." He shrugged. Hopefully.

"Keep up, ape girl." Raven called, running to the hall.

Clara cringed at that. How it had been only yesterday Raven had said she was a decent human and now had reverted back to calling her an ape.

They ran into the hall as the vortex reopened and the Blitzer rolled out, "Disrupt temporal lock. Disengaged scan."

"Raven..." Clara glanced at her as the girl repeated pressed her wing, grabbing its attention.

"Incoming stop identified Helicon Helicon commence retargeting."

"Come on," Clara grabbed Raven's hand this time, running through the corridors, as she randomly pressed her sonic to keep the Blitzer coming after them.

"Target acquired. Destroy. Target within range." It followed them into the caretakers' storeroom, "problem solution destroy."

Raven pushed Clara down, perhaps more roughly than intended, as the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS, just narrowly dodging a hit.

"Doctor! Now!" Clara yelled.

"20 seconds," he fiddled with the backpack, rushing to put it on.

"Destroy. Destroy."

"Doctor!" Raven hissed, helping him get it on.

"Am I green?" He asked, "Am I green?"

"Yes!"

He pulled a wire attached to the bag to his mouth like a microphone, "Stop! Skovox Blitzer!"

It stopped firing, its eyes turning from red to blue, "Awaiting orders."

"Superior Skovox Artificer. Analyse stop, analyse stop."

"Superior recognised. Pattern 1, 1, oh, Orders, orders."

"Why's it listening to you?" Clara frowned.

"Listening to its superior," he answered, "This is a rough copy. It thinks I'm its general." He spoke back into the microphone, "Initiate input. Commence shutdown protocol. No conflict. Conclusion?"

"Problem solution."

"Conclusion." The Doctor repeated.

"Final input code missing. Emergency terminate. Initiate self-destruct in 9, 8…" Its eyes turned from blue back to red.

The Doctors eyes widened at that, "The input code. I forgot the final input code..." he quickly typed the code in as the Blitzer continued to countdown.

"7, 6, 5..."

"Raven; distraction!" The Doctor called.

"What do you expect me to do?!" she cried.

Only for Danny to switch of the invisibility watch he had been wearing; "Oi, Skovox. Over here." And somersaulted over the Blitzer.

"Under attack." He stated, firing up at Danny, missing him as the man landed.

"Artificer Artificer." The Doctor called, now with the complete code, "Stop. Confirm stop override final input code."

Again the Blitzer stopped, eyes turning blue again, "Code accepted. Abort self-destruct. Orders accepted. Stop, stop, stop." He powered down at long last.

"Oh, my God!" Clara hugged Danny, "Oh, my God, you were amazing! Oh, my God, you were so brilliant."

"Well, yeah, I was ok, wasn't I?" He shrugged, "I was behind you every step of the way. Had to make sure you were safe." He glanced at the Time Lords, "You ok?"

"Hmm," the Doctor looked over, "yeah, ok."

"Just...ok?" Clara eyed him.

"It's all right," Danny assured her, "it doesn't matter. I don't need him to like me. It doesn't matter if he likes me or hates me, I just need to do exactly one thing for you. Doctor, am I right?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"What?" Clara frowned between them, "What one thing?"

"I need to be good enough for you. That's why he's angry. Just in case I'm not."

"He, er, he did just save the whole world." Clara reminded him.

"It's a start." The Doctor shrugged.

~.~

They had taken the Skovox Blitzer into space, dumping it, floating around for the end of days. They'd taken Courtney Woods with them. The Doctor mostly hoping that doing so would get the girl to stop nagging them.

The girl didn't seem too well looking into space, ended up rushing off out of the doorway, the TARDIS leading her to a bathroom to throw up.

The poor girl.


	10. Kill the moon

Courtney Woods. Doctor, she has gone crazy." Clara was saying as they walked down the corridors of the school during the woman's free period from teaching, "She's uncontrollable. She took your psychic paper. She's been using it as fake ID."

"To get into museums?" the Doctor asked.

Raven snorted at that, the Doctor always seemed to look at children and innocent little ones, never that they would try to break the rule when children were the ones most likely too.

"More like alcohol." She smirked, a 15 year old girl who proudly called herself a disruptive influence, oh yeah, she was using the psychic paper to get stuff she couldnt without one.

Clara nodded, "to buy White Lightning or alcopops or whatever."

"The weak stuff."

"That's not..." Clara groaned.

"I've no idea what you're talking about." the Doctor cut in, "What...what is Courtney Woods?"

"She's one of my year 10s. She was in the TARDIS."

"The disruptive influence." Raven helped to remind him, but he still looked confused, "the girl who threw up in the TARDIS."

"Oh, her." he nodded, recalling the girl now, "Oh, that was ages ago."

"Look," Clara huffed, stopping just outside the TARDIS they had parked in the caretaker cupboard, "She says that you told her that she wasn't special."

"Rubbish!" the Doctor scoffed. He would never say that to a child and actually mean it, more of a joke that she didnt understand or he missed the end of his sentence. He did that sometimes, forget to finish his sentence because he got distracted or he had to keep his eye on Raven.

"No, sounds like something you'd say." Raven deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"She says that's what sent her off the rails." Clara continued, "Doctor. I know, I know. But, you say something like that to somebody, it hurts. Especially if you're somebody of her age, especially if you're you. Doctor, it can affect her whole life."

"Oh, please," Raven scoffed, as they headed inside the box, "this time next year she wont even remember this."

"Oi!" The Doctor shouted seeing the young girl at the console, thankfully not touching anything, "Give over!"

"I got stuff to clean up with." the girl held up a stack of paper towels, "And I got these from the chemist." she held up her wrists showing black bands.

"Vortex manipulators?" the Doctor frowned.

"Do they look like Vortex Manipulators to you?" Raven shook her head at him.

They looked nothing alike.

"Travel sickness." Courtney corrected. "Good." the Doctor nodded, "Because I don't like people being sick in my TARDIS. No being sick." he warned her and then turned to Clara, "And no hanky-panky!"

"Doctor!" Clara flushed.

"Sorry, that's the rules."

"Just the rules for Danny Pink, anyway." Raven extended, "I'm sure hes fine if you snog Jane Austin in here."

"Raven!" Clara huffed at her. "Look, Courtney, you're not going to be needing those because you're not going to be doing any travelling. Doctor, will you just, just tell her?"

"Tell her what?" the man blinked.

"Tell her that she's special." she said, clenching her teeth.

"Have you gone bananas?"

"Being with you in enough to make anyone go bananas." Raven quipped.

They all ignored her.

"Do you really think I'm not special?" Courtney frowned at him, "You can't just take me away like that. It's like you kicked a big hole in in the side of my life. You really think it? I'm nothing? I'm not special?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, if he had said it to her (he really couldnt remember), then clearly he hadnt meant it. He usually remembered when he said mean things, especially to kids, and he wasnt mean to kids unless joking around, "How'd you like to be the first woman on the moon? Is that special enough for you?"

Countney smiled at that, "Yeah, all right."

"Okay." the Doctor moved around the console to set them off, "Now we can do something interesting."

He pulled down a lever, both he and Raven ignoring Clara's protests.

~.~

The group stepped out of the TARDIS each in their own orange spacesuit, into some sort of storage unit and not the moon, it was filled with cylindrical objects, most of them stacked in racks on the side, all of them with the US flag on them, and faded words they couldnt make out from old age.

"This isn't the moon." Courtney deadpanned, "Where are we?"

"On a recycled space shuttle. 2049." the Doctor answered.

"How do you know that?"

"Theres a prototype version of the Bennett Oscillator which came out just before 2050." Raven explained before the Doctor could give the simple answer of being clever or another random excuse. "And theres oxygen." she said, removing her helmet as the Doctor did the same. The humans hesitating a moment before removing their helmets. "Where's the gravity coming from?" the Doctor wondered.

"What are they?" Clara asked, nodding to cylinders, squinting to try and make out the words.

"About a hundred nuclear bombs." Raven stated.

Suddenly an alarm went off above them.

The Doctor glanced out the window, "Ah. We're on ourwayto the moon. Check that. We're about to crash into it! Hold on! Hold on!"

Clara quickly grabbed Courtney, holding onto the cargo nets, with her safety between her arms as the Doctor and Raven grabbed the nets themselves.

"Why didn't you just tell her you didn't mean it?" Clara yelled as the shuttle shook, roughly landing on the moon and sliding across the surface until it stopped.

"Thats almost as bad as your flying." Raven grumbled.

"I'm not that bad." the Doctor argued.

They straightened from the crash when three people in white spacesuits entered, two men and a blonde woman.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the woman demanded, quickly raising her weapon at them.

"Why have you got all these nuclear bombs?" the Doctor asked instead, unconcerned by the woman's weapon.

"I'm not going to give you another chance."

"Oh? Well, you're just going to have to shoot us, then. Shoot the little girl first."

"What?" Courtneys eyes widen.

"Yes. She doesn't want to stand there watching us getting shot, does she? She'll be terrified. Girl first, then her teacher, and then me. You'll have to spend a lot of time shooting me because I will keep on regenerating.In fact, I'm not entirely sure that I won't keep on regenerating for ever...and then shoot Raven," he nodded to her, "though she'll regenerate a lot herself."

Raven rolled her eyes at him, they both had the same amount of regenerations left, both being on the first of their cycles though he was on his second regeneration cycle while she was still on her first, her first body, never having regenerated before.

Clara stared at the Doctor as during his little rant he slowly moved forwards and backwards before moving into small hops, "Doctor, what are you doing?"

"Gravity test.So, it'll be very time-consuming and messy, and rather wasteful, because I think I might just possibly be able to help you. You see, I am a super-intelligent alien being who flies in time and space. Are you going to shoot me?"

"No." the woman just looked bemused by him now.

"Good." he nodded, "Why have you got all these nuclear bombs? No, no, no. Easier question. What's wrong with my yo-yo?" he pulled a yo-yo out from his suit pocket and flicked it up and down.

"Doctor, it goes up and down." Clara deadpanned.

"Exactly." Raven nodded.

Clara looked even more confused that Raven was with the Doctor and his weirdness of his yo-yo doing exactly what it was meant to do. "Ah..." she realised.

"We should be bouncing about this cabin like little fluffy clouds." the Doctor remarked, "But we're not. What is the matter with the moon?"

"Nobody knows." the woman answered.

"Do you know what's wrong with the moon?" Clara frowned at them.

"It's put on weight." Raven joked.

"How can the moon put on weight?" the woman scoffed.

"Oh, lots of ways." the Doctor shrugged, "Gravity bombs, axis alignment systems, planet shellers."

"So it's alien."

"Must be causing chaos on Earth. The tides will be so high that they will drown whole cities."

"Yeah."

"So what are you doing about it?"

The woman turned, pulling a black case from the wall.

"Seriously?" Raven stared at the woman.

"That's what you do with aliens, isn't it? Blow them up?"

Raven whistled, "I dont know who started it; aliens attacking humans or humans attacking aliens."

~.~

The group stepped out of the shuttle, their helmets back on. Courtney stepping out first, the Doctor keeping his word that Courtney could be the first girl on the moon.

"Wow." Courtney breathed, "Wow! One small thing for a thing. One enormous thing for a thingy thing."

"So much for history." the woman, Lundvik muttered. Even she, born far later than when humans first stepped on the moon knew what Neil Armstrong had said when he stepped out.

Raven glanced back at the shuttle, her lip curling his distaste seeing the shuttle was still smoking from the crash, it was amazing it wasnt broken into pieces.

"There was a mining survey, Mexicans." Lundvil remarked, leading them to a crater not far away, some sort of settlement, "something happened up here. Nobody knows what. That's when the trouble began back on Earth. High tides everywhere at once. The greatest natural disaster in history..." she trailed off seeing the airlock to the building was wide open.

"Cobwebs?" Clara frowned at the white webs. She was not expecting to see spiders on the moon.

"Henry, go back and prime the bombs." Lundvik turned to one of the men.

"Er, is there any instructions?" he asked hesitantly.

"You dont know how to operate the bomb you were sent up with?" Raven raised her eyebrows in disbelieve. "did you steal the shuttle, because honestly its crap..."

How could any mission, to the moon or even staying on Earth be operated by people who didnt have proper training. Why were they not given proper training?

Lundvik ignored her, "There's a switch on each of them. The light goes red."

"They won't go off?" Henry confirmed, still nervous.

"No, not till I fiddle with this thing." she held up the case she hadnt let out of her sight.

"Okay." he sighed, turning and heading off.

"Shall we?" Lundvik led the rest of them into the module.

"Is that the best you could get?" the Doctor watched the man walk off.

"Second-hand space shuttle, third-hand astronauts." she muttered, stepping through the airlock and inside the module which was covered in air locks.

"How many people here?" the Doctor asked Lundvik.

"Four." she replied, "Minera Luna San Pedro. It was privately financed. They where doing a mineral survey up here."

"Messages? Mayday? SOS?"

"Pretty much all the satellites had been whacked out of orbit." the other man that came with Lundvik said, "They managed to send back some screams."

"So then you came up here to rescue them with your bombs?" Raven frowned.

"Not quite."

"They disappeared 10 years ago." Lundvik explained.

"Nobody came?" the Doctor frowned.

"There was no shuttle."

"You had one."

"A shit one." Raven muttered.

"Language."

"It was in a museum." Lundvik huffed, "They'd cut the back off it so kids could ride in it. We'd stopped going into space. Nobody cared. Not until..."

She was cut off as Courtney screamed a few feet away of them.

"Courtney!" Clara cried, running to the girl in the next room, staring at a spacesuit hanging in a cocoon on the wall. "Oh, my God." she breathed, tugging Courtney away, "Doctor, tell me there wasn't anyone inside that thing."

He flashed his sonic at it, "I could, but it wouldn't make it true."

"I'll get some power back on." Duke offered.

"Come on." Clara pulled Courtney into her arms, "Now, Courtney, come here. Don't look. You all right?"

"I'm okay." the girl nodded, despite looking slightly sick, even more so as the Doctor cut the suit from the wall.

"Hey. Look. Look at me. Look. It's all right if you're not."

"I'm fine." she insisted, "What did it?"

"Maybe something trying to find out how you're put together." the Doctor suggested, "Or maybe how you tasted?"

"Do we have guns?" Courtney asked.

"Not unless you brought some." Lundvik sighed. Hers was so old that she only brought it as a scaring tactic, she didn't know if it was still functioning or loaded.

They looked up as the lights came on, "Save the air." the Doctor called, removing his helmet as the others followed.

Raven set her helmet besides her as she turned to a computer, accessing the system, "they didnt find anything."

"What?" Lundvik looks at her.

"The Mexicans. They didn't find any minerals on the moon at all."

The Doctor frowned, looking at the pictures left on the table, "Oh. Lines of tectonic stress." he held a picture up.

Lundvik moved over for a look, "That's the Mare Fecunditatis. It's been there since the Apollo days. It's always been there."

"No, no, no." the Doctor shook his head, "These are much, much bigger. Sea of Tranquillity. Sea of Nectar. Sea of Ingenuity. Sea of Crises."

"Meaning?" Clara frowned.

The Doctor looked up as the lights flickered off, "Meaning, Clara, that the moon, this little planetoid that's been tagging along beside you for a hundred million years, which gives you light at night and seas to sail on, is in the process of falling to bits..."

The room began to shake, a high pitch scuttling noise mixed with a low rumble before everything settled a moment later.

"What the hell was that?" Courtney yelled.

"Duke, is that you?" Lundvik called in the comm in her suit.

"I don't sound anything like that." he responded.

"Can you try and get the lights back on?"

"That's what I'm doing."

"Torch." the Doctor turned to Raven, knowing the girl never left the TARDIS without a torch. "Whatever it is, it's in here." she handed him her torch as he flashed it around the room, following the sounds of scuttlingly, "I think we've found your alien." a large black spider with red joints leapt at them from the adjoining corridor, "Back, back, back! We need a door. A door, a door!"

"Here!" Clara called, pulling on the door behind them, "The door's locked."

"Theres no power." Raven reminded her as the Doctor nudged her behind a table, Clara instantly nudging Courtney with them. She was trying to keep Courtney as close to Raven as Raven could, despite sometimes Raven got into close to death situations she was the safest of them all with the Doctors serious duty of care to her. Courtney would be safer near Raven in that sense.

"Stay still." the Doctor hissed, "It's sensing movement. It can't see you. Fast movement. There must be another exit through there." he nodded to the corridor they came through, "Slowly.Head to that exit. Slowly." he warned, slowly inches aside, not to be noticed by the spider. "Gently, gently. When I say run, run."

"Who made you the boss?" Lundvik demanded.

"Well, you say run, then." he huffed.

the light turned on a Duke stepped into the corridor the spider came from.

"Duke!" Lundvik yelled in warning.

The spider lunged at Duke, latching onto its face as the man stumbled back, screaming.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, "We have power. Run!"

Clara pushed the door open, Raven right behind her, "Quick, it's shutting!" the Doctor and Lundvik quickly followed when the door slammed shut, leaving Courtney on the otherside.

"Miss!" Courtney cried, the gravity turning off, leaving the girl floating.

"Courtney!" Clara pulled on the door, desperate to get it open, seeing the girl in danger, "Courtney!" the door didnt open as the power went out again, "The power's gone again."

"It's killed him." Courtney screamed, "It's coming in here! Doctor, it's coming in here!"

"You'll be okay!" The Doctor tried to assure her, "Courtney, look at me. Look at me! Courtney! Try and get to the door! Try and get yourself down here."

Raven smashed the glass panel on the door with the torch, grabbing the Doctors yo-yo, "catch!" she called to the girl, swinging the yo-yo out to her, the girl managing to grab it as the gravity returned and she fell to the floor...along with the soldier which lunged at her.

Courtney grabbed a spray bottle from her bag, squirting it at the spider as it squealed and collapsed, seeming to disintegrate.

"Courtney!" Clara ran to the girl as the door opened.

"Kills ninety nine percent of all known germs." she grinned holding her bottle of cleaning solution she had brought incase she was sick again.

"Nice." Raven remarked.

"Just don't try that at home, okay?" the Doctor told the girl.

"You all right?" Clara checked her over.

"Why did I just fly?" she wondered, "This is nuts."

The Doctor scanned the spider with his sonic, "Did you say germs?" he glanced over at Courtney, "Oh, God, this is incredible. Look at the size of it. It's the size of a badger."

"It's a giant germ?" Raven shook her head.

"Are you disappointed it's not just a space spider?" Clara gave her an odd look.

She shrugged, "I like spiders."

Clara just shook her head. Of course Raven would be the very few people who liked spiders.

"It's a prokaryotic unicellular life form, with non-chromosomal DNA." The Doctor explained, "Which, as you and me know. Well, not you and me." he gestured to the humans, "Well, you, certainly not." he gestured to him and Raven, "You and me, yes, scientists know, this is a germ. You flew because that 1.3 billion tonnes shifted. It moved. It's an unstable mass."

Courtney swallowed at the large germ, "I'm scared, Miss." She knew about germs, sometimes she did pay attention in class, germs were meant to be microscopic, not the size of a badger!

"Okay." Clara pulled her closer.

"He'd just had a grand-daughter." Lundvik murmured, staring at Dukes body, "Elina. She was his first. He was my teacher. He taught me how to fly. We were both given the sack on the same day."

"Which way to the Mare Fecunditatis?" the Doctor asked. Whatever was happening to the moon, they needed to find out sooner rather than later, maybe then less lives will be loss.

"Please can I go home now?" Courtney cut in quietly, "I'm really...I'm really sorry, but I'd like to go home."

The Doctor nodded, they couldnt risk going and dropping her home and coming back. Not with his piloting, they may arrive back too late, but he could ensure she was safe.

~.~

Raven rolled her eyes as they made their way back to the shuttle. She was getting serious annoyed at Lundvik, she was constantly trying to hear a response from Henry, constantly calling into her comm. If he hadnt responded by now he wouldnt any time soon. He was probably dead just like Duke was.

"Henry, come in." Lundvik tried again, "If you don't mind, Henry, come in."

"Doctor," Clara caught up to the Time Lords as they led the way back in silence, "this is dangerous now."

"It was dangerous before," he countered, "Everything's dangerous if you want it to be. Eating chips is dangerous. Crossing the road."

"Even having a phone can get you killed." Raven muttered, recalling their use of the Arkangel Network to hypnotise the human race to vote Harry Saxon.

"It's no way to live your life." the Doctor nodded, "Tell her. You're supposed to be teaching her."

"Look," Clara huffed, "I have a duty of care, okay? You know what that is?"

"Course I know what a duty of care is." he scoffed, "I care for Raven."

"Aw, you care about me." Raven smirked, "so sweet."

"I care for you." he repeated, empizing the for part. "What are you suggesting? She's fine. What are you, 35?"

"15." Courtney glared at him.

"Ah, your short human lifespans." Raven laughed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her as they reached the shuttle, "Now, don't touch anything." he warned, allowing her into the TARDIS.

"You got any games?" she asked.

"Theres a chess set under the chair." Raven pointed up to her armchair on the upper gallery.

"No, I got rid of that." the Doctor muttered.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"It was broken."

"You mean you're a sore loser." she deadpanned.

It was a very rare occasion for them both to be calm enough to have a decent game of chess. Especially to not end up arguing during a game, last time had been an easy quiet game and she had easily beaten the Doctor. He had gone quiet for the rest of the night but she hadnt expected him to get rid of the game because he hated losing that bad.

"Can I get reception up here?" Courtney asked, pulling out her phone, far more content to play games on that than chess, even she knew chess was a two person game.

"Dont touch anything." The Doctor repeated, pointing warningly at her as he shut her in.

"Why are you shutting her in?" Clara frowned, seeing they weren't taking Courtnry home, "We don't need to stay, do we?"

"Shes got a point." Raven shrugged.

Honestly she didnt care if the moon broke apart and killed everyone in the planet below. If the moon died, then that was it's time, wasnt it?

"It's obvious, isn't it? The moon doesn't break up."

"How do you know?" The Doctor asked her.

"Because I've been in the future, and the moon is still there...I think. You know the moon is still there, right?"

"Maybe it isn't the moon. Maybe it's a hologram or a big painting, or a special effect. Maybe it's a completely different moon."

"History is always being rewritten." Raven offered.

"But you would know." Clara eyed them.

"We would?" the Doctor blinked at her.

"If the moon fell to bits in 2049, somebody would've mentioned it." Clara explained, "It would have come up in conversation. So it doesn't break up. So the world doesn't end. So, let's just get in the TARDIS and go."

"You humans dont remember the Toclafane killing you all," Raven shrugged.

"Ah, but you told me only those on Valiant would rememeber that." Clara argued.

"Alright," she nodded, "what about that christmas when you all turned into my dad."

"What?" Clara blinked at that. Really not remembering a time at Christmas when she not only apparently turned into a man, but a man who was an insane Time Lord.

"Exactly!"

"Clara, there are some moments in time that we simply can't see." the Doctor added, "Little eye-blinks. They don't look the same as other things. They're not clear. They're fuzzy, they're grey. Little moments in which big things are decided. And this is one of them. Just now, I can't tell what happens to the moon, because whatever happens to the moon hasn't been decided yet. And it's going to be decided here and now. Which very much sounds as though it's up to us."

"None of you are going anywhere." Lundvik cut in, "I've lost my crew. We were the last astronauts. This is the last shuttle, these are the last nuclear bombs. We're the last chance for Earth, and you're staying to help me."

"Decision made." the Doctor muttered.

"Yeah..." Clara sighed.

~.~

The Doctor frowned as he looked over the Mexicans equipment, "What is killing the moon?"he wondered, shifting through the papers.

"How can the moon die, though?" Clara shook her head.

"Everything does," Raven sighed, "sooner or later. Chances are the most you try to keep yourself alive the more likely you are to die early."

If only her father had known that, instead of trying and going to desperate measures to keep himself alive, he had ended up dead far too early. If he just calmed down just a little bit he could have outlived the Doctor.

"Can we save it?" Lundvik glanced at them.

"Depends what's killing it."

"There are the other three." Lundvik sighed, seeing a set of spacesuits, covered in cobwebs that they hardly looked like suits now, it had been that long.

"Is it those germ things, then?" Clara wondered, "Are they like cockroaches? Is it...is it an infestation?"

Lundvik looked over at them as the Doctor didnt answer her, "Is it?"

"Well, We've only seen one of them." The Doctor shrugged "It would take an awful lot more to cause the moon to put on 1.3 billion tonnes."

One of giant spiders leapt out of the small hole it had been hiding in and latched onto the Doctors face.

"Doctor!" Clara yelled, pulling out the disinfectant spray she kept since learning they were germs.

Lundvik stopped her, "It's a vacuum." she pointed out, "It won't work."

"Give us a hand," Raven called, trying to pull on the spiders legs to get the Doctors free, with the two humans helping they managed to get it off him and send it scuttling back into the crack.

"Well," the Doctor breathed, "that makes two."

"Sunlight." Clara blinked.

"Sunlight?" Lundvik frowned at her.

"If they're germs. My nan says it's the best disinfectant there is."

Raven pulled out her torch, flashing it into the crack, careful to keep back, not wanting one to attack her like the Doctor. They could see thousands of the spiders lurking in the dark.

"Fucking hell." she muttered

"Language." the Doctor chastised.

"Where have they come from?" Lundvik gasped.

"Maybe they've been there all the time." he reasoned, "It's warmish. They're multiplying, feeding, evolving."

Lundvik pulled back, forcing the others to follow, "Doctor, if the moon breaks up, it'll kill us all in about 45 minutes."

"I agree." the Doctor nodded, "Unless something else is going on." he moved to another fissure, pulling his yo-yo down, grimacing a bit as it came back up wet.

"Ew." Raven grimaced.

"There's no water on the moon." Lundvik frowned.

"It's not water. It's amniotic fluid." the Doctor explained, "The stuff that life comes from."

"Ew." Raven repeated.

"I've got to go down there."

"Doctor!" Lundvik called.

He ushered them off, "Back to your shuttle. Get your bombs ready. Get to the TARDIS. Get safe. Get Courtney safe. I will be back."

"What?" Claras eyes widened, "No. Doctor.Doctor!"

He ignored her jumping into the fissure.

"Doctor!" Clara yelled, peering down after him but it was too dark to see him.

"And that suit will be throw into a black hole." Raven remarked, turning and walking back to the TARDIS.

"Oi!"

"Will he?" Lundvik looked at Clara. The one out of the pair more likely to answer her "Will he be back?"

Clara just threw her arms up, heading back to the shuttle after Raven, "If he says so, I suppose he will."

Raven didnt seem to concerned he wouldnt come back. She would probably wait a bit for him and then bugger off in the TARDIS, she hoped Raven cared for her enough to at least take her home if she was going to let the moon die. Raven just didnt care, she was just here for the safety and comfort in the TARDIS unconcerned to the events happening around her all because they were human and she wasnt.

"Miss?" Courtney called a minute later on the comms in their suits, "Come in."

"Courtney?" Clara replied.

"I'm bored." she whined, "When are you coming back?"

"We're on our way. What you doing?"

"Putting some pictures on Tumblr."

"No!" Clara hissed, "Courtney, don't put any photos on Tumblr."

"My granny used to put things on Tumblr." Lundvik remarked.

"Raven tell her she cant put things in tumblr."

"Oh, please," Raven scoffed, "With photoshop and human naivety no ones gonna believe they're real."

"Thats not..." Clara huffed, getting cut off from her complains as the ground beneath them shook.

Lundvik gasped as she steadied herself, catching sight of something a short distance away, "There he is!" she raced over to see Henry's suit was covered in cobwebs, his helmet off revealing the skeleton inside.

Clara grimaced and looked away, frowning at the shuttle, "Was that where we landed? It looks so different."

As soon as the words left her mouth the ground shook again, forming more cracks.

"It's going down!" Lundvik yelled, seeing the cracks widening, the front of the shuttle slowly sliding down a wide crack.

"Courtney!" Clara gasped in horror.

"Shes fine." Raven assured her, her eyes widening slightly as she realised how nice she sounded, assuring Clara of her worry about her student. Oh Rassilon what was happening to her? "She wouldnt have felt a thing in the TARDIS."

"We going to have to take cover." Lundvik called, "We're running out of oxygen."

"I've got a respiratory bypass system."

"We dont." Clara glared at her.

"Sounds like a human problem." Raven shrugged.

"Today's the day, humankind!" the Doctor suddenly shouted behind them, startling the humans at his sudden appearance as they turned to see him grinning like a mad man, covered in amniotic fluid.

~.~

"Where's the TARDIS?" Clara demanded, following the Doctor into the settlement. Needing to know where it was, to know Courtney was safe and alive. It was all well and good Raven saying she was fine, but she needed to here it from the Doctor, he was the pilot, the one connected to the TARDIS, he was more likely to know where the TARDIS was than Raven.

"She's in the shuttle, isn't she?" the Doctor glanced at her, pulling off his helmet, "She'll turn up."

"Last time you said that, she turned up on the wrong side of the planet." Clara deadpanned.

"HADs setting?" Raven guessed.

"Yeah..." the Doctor sighed.

"Nice."

Clara took a breath, feeling her anger rising at how he was waving off her concern for a 15 year old girl that should not have come in the TARDIS them, what they did, they things they saw, sometimes it was too danger for kids, "Look, we need to know where Courtney is."

"Courtney is safe." the Doctor promised her.

"Why not phone her." Raven suggested.

"I dont have her number." Clara huffed.

"Well, what about the school?" the Doctor questioned, "Does the secretary have her number?"

"I can't. The secretary hates me. She thinks I gave her a packet of TENA Lady for Secret Santa."

"Did you?" Raven smirked.

"Not the point," she muttered, "Look." she shook her head, "Courtney's posting stuff on Tumblr. Doesn't that know where you are?" she looked between the other three, surely one of them should know.

"I don't know." Lundvik shrugged, "I'm not a historian."

"Phone." the Doctor held out his hand as Calra handed over her phone from her pocket, "I know what the problem is. Oh," he frowned, seeing the photos of them in their spacesuits Courtney had uploaded, "she can't post that. She can't put pictures of me online." he flashed his sonic at the phone, deleting the photos before flashing the sonic at a monitor on the wall, Courtnrys face appearing before them, staring down at her phone.

"Courtney," Clara sighed in relief seeing the girl safe and sound in the console room.

"Yeah?" she frowned.

"You can't put pictures of me online!"the Doctor told her.

"Are you okay?" Clara asked her.

"Er, I'm fine." she replied, "What's up?"

Lundvik turned to the Doctor, "You said you know what the problem is."

"Yes, yes." he nodded, "It's a rather big problem."

"Okay," Clara blinked at his silence, usually he yelled for silence to explain, "do you want to share it with the class?"

"Well, I had a little hypothesis. The seismic activity, the surface breaking up, the variable mass, the increase in gravity, the fluid. I scanned what's down there..." the Doctor pointed his sonic at the console and a 3D hologram of the moon appeared before them. "The moon isn't breaking apart." he explained, "Well, actually, it is breaking apart, and rather quickly. We've got about an hour and a half. But that isn't the problem. It's not infested."

"What are they, then, those things?" Courtney called.

"Bacteria. Tiny, tiny bacteria living on something very, very big. Something that weighs about 1.3 billion tonnes. Something that's living. Something growing."

"Growing?" Clara frowned.

"That." he flicked the sonic again, the hologram shifted showing something like a baby dragon curled up inside the moon.

"That lives under the moon?" Courtney stared at it.

"No." the Doctor shook his head.

"You're saying that is the moon." Raven raised her eyebrows as she stared at it. The only person alive who could possibly understand the Doctor.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lundvik demanded.

"The moon isn't breaking apart." the Doctor remarked, "The moon is hatching. The moon's an egg."

"Has it, er, has it always been an egg?" Clara frowned.

"Yes, for a hundred million years or so. Just...just growing." the Doctor smiled at the hologram, "Just getting ready to be born."

"Okay." Clara shook her head, "So the moon has never been the moon?"

"No, no, no, no. It's never been dead. It's just taking a long time to come alive."

"Is it a chicken?" Courtney wondered.

"What kind of chickens are you seeing." Raven scoffed. That looked nothing like an Earth chicken in her eyes.

"Cos, for a chicken to have laid an egg that big..."

"Courtney, don't spoil the moment." the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Doctor," Clara sighed, "what is it?"

"I think that it's unique. I think that's the only one of its kind in the universe. I think that that is utterly beautiful."

"Can I keep it?" Raven murmured, staring at it, adoring it.

"No." the Doctor didnt hesitate to answer.

"If my father..."

"Yes, if he was still alive he'd let you keep it as a pet." he rolled his eyes at her, "well he isnt and you cant."

She crossed her arms, grumbling, "I would look after it."

"How do we kill it?"

Of course, someone had to ruin the beautiful moment and of course it would be Lundvik.

"Why'd you want to kill it?" Clara gaped at her.

"It's a little baby." Courtney agreed.

"Its not done anything." Raven glared at the woman.

"Doctor, how do we kill it?" Lundvik repeated.

"Kill the moon?" the Doctor frowned, switching the hologram off, "Kill the moon. Well, you have about a hundred of the best man-made nuclear weapons, if they still work. If that's what you want to do."

"Doctor, wait..." Clara cut in.

"Will that do it?" Lundvik asked.

"A hundred nuclear bombs set off right where we are, right on top of a living, vulnerable creature? It'll never feel the sun on its back."

"And then what? Will the moon still break up? You said we had an hour and a half?"

"Well, there'll be nothing to make it break up. There will be nothing trying to force its way out. The gravity of the little dead baby will pull all the pieces back together again. Of course, it won't be very pretty. You'd have an enormous corpse floating in the sky. You might have some very difficult conversations to have with your kids."

"I don't have any kids." Lundvik stated.

"No kidding." Raven muttered.

"Stop." Clara glared at her, "Right, listen. This is a...this is a life. I mean, this must be the biggest life in the universe."

"It's not even been born!" Courtney called.

"It is killing people." Lundvik argued, "It is destroying the Earth."

"You cannot blame a baby for kicking." Clara remarked.

"Let me tell you something. You want to know what I took back from being in space? Look at the edge of the Earth.The atmosphere, that is paper thin. That is the only thing that saves us all from death. Everything else, the stars, the blackness. That's all dead. Sadly, that is the only life any of us will ever know."

"There's life here." Courtney frowned, "There's life just next door."

"Look, when you've grown up a bit, you'll realise that everything doesn't have to be nice. Some things are just bad. Anyway, you ran away. It's none of your business."

"Doctor, I want to come back." Courtney decided. If Lundvik didnt think her opinion matter because she wasnt there, then she would be there and make her opinion heard.

"Courtney, you'll be safer where you are." Clara argued lightly.

"Doctor, I'm sorry.I want to come back, okay?I want to help."

The Doctor sighed, watching as Lundvik began entered the codes for the bombs, "Ah, there's some DVDs on the blue book shelf. Just stick one into the TARDIS console. That'll bring you to us."

"And make sure you hang on to the console," Raven added as the girl moved to the side, "otherwise the TARDIS will leave you behind."

"So what do we do?" Clara turned to the Time Lords, "Doctor? Huh? Doctor, what do we do?"

"Nothing." he said simply.

"What?" she blinked, eyes wide.

"Wedon't do anything. I'm sorry, Clara. We," he gestured between himself and Raven, "can't help you."

"Of course you can help."

"The Earth isn't our home. The moon's not our moon. Sorry."

"Wow," Raven blinked, not even she had expected for him to say what he did, "That's..." She trailed off, not sure what to make of his words. As true as they were, the Doctor always helped whenever he could. All those time he had saved Earth, they didnt live their but he still saved the planet he was so fond of and now. Now he didnt want too.

"Come on..." Clara frowned at them, "Hey."

"Listen, there are moments in every civilisation's history in which the whole path of that civilisation is decided." he told her, "The whole future path. Whatever future humanity might have depends upon the choice that is made right here and right now. Now, you've got the tools to kill it. You made them. You brought them up here all on your own, with your own ingenuity. You don't need a Time Lord. Kill it. Or let it live. We can't make this decision for you."

"Yeah...well, I can't make it."

"Well, there's two of you here."

"A...a school teacher and an astronaut."

"Who's better qualified?" the Doctor smiled.

"I don't know!" Clara exclaimed, "The President of America."

"Oh, take something off his plate. He makes far too many decisions anyway."

"She." Lundvik glared.

"She." he nodded, "Sorry. She hasn't even been into space. She hasn't been to another planet. How would she even know what to do?"

"I am asking you for help." Clara frowned at him.

"Listen, we went to dinner in Berlin in 1937, right? We didn't nip out after pudding and kill Hitler. I've never killed Hitler. And you wouldn't expect me to kill Hitler. The future is no more malleable than the past."

"Okay...don't you do this to make some kind of point."

"Sorry. Well, actually, no, I'm not sorry. It's time to take the stabilisers off your bike. It's your moon, womankind. It's your choice."

"And you're just going to stand there?" Clara scoffed, looking between them.

Raven looked over as the TARDIS materialised and Courtney stepped out. She didnt know what the Doctor was planning, but it was him or the humans and she wouldnt hesitate what to choose, "Why would we just stand and watch?" she countered.

"Doctor?" Clara breathed, realising that now the TARDIS was with them they were going to run off and leave her here.

"A teenager, an astronaut and a schoolteacher." the Doctor nodded.

"Hang on a minute." Lundvik cut in, "We can get in there, can't we? You can sort it out with that thing."

"No." the Doctor turned and ushered Raven into the TARDIS, she did so, if confused as to why he was leaving Clara alone, "Some decisions are too important not to make on your own."

"Doctor!" Clara yelled as he followed, shutting the doors on them.

He hurried to the console as Raven stood their arms cross, having been silent when he made the decision to leave Clara to sort out the problem, not sure what his plan was and really not sure it was a good idea to leave them to sort out the issue.

"What...what are you planning?" she asked, shaking her head and flicking on the monitor to show Clara still on the moon.

"It's time I showed Clara how much i trust her," he answered, "I know that Clara will make the right decision even if the others are against it."

Raven pulled a face, knowing that that was not what Clara saw, she saw them abandoning her in danger, "And right is the right decision?"

"Lets fine out!" he grinned, typing on the keyboard to find out about what was said about the moon in 2049, "there we go!"

Raven stared at the screen. That was pretty much what they wanted.

Somehow she didnt see Clara being alright after this. She would probably yell and cry for feeling abandoned.

She shook her head, she really needed to stop thinking these things, sounding like she cared.

Caring for an ape, how primitive.

~.~

They stood at the console, watching as Clara sent a transmission to Earth, asking for their help on what to do. The Earth wanting to destroy the moon, but Clara had stepped forwards just before the bombs went off and stopped them, choosing to save the innocent baby.

The Doctor pulled down a lever, running to the doors as Raven hung back at the console, not wanting to face Clara, she had seen how angry and stressed she looked on the monitor.

"One, two, three," the Doctor pointed to them as the three humans stared at him, "into the TARDIS."

"What's happening?" Lundvik yelled.

"Let's go and have a look, shall we?" Courtney and Lundvik ran in as Clara followed, her face blank, the Doctor oblivious to Clara's emotions as he piloted them back to Earth.

"Bloody idiots." Lundvik grumbled, "Bloody irresponsible idiots."

"Mind your language, please," the Doctor pointed at her, "There are children present."

"You should have left me there," Lundvik continued, "let me die. I wanted to die up there with the universe in front of me, not being crushed to death on Earth."

"Nobody's going to die." the Doctor determined.

"Could you please let us see what's happening?"

The Doctor grinned, landing them on Earth, stepping out onto a beach, the sky bright giving them a clear view of the moon.

As they stepped out and watched they could see the moon cracking, breaking apart as something inside stretched out its wings.

"What's it doing?" Courtney asked, staring in awe at the creature.

"It's feeling the sun on itself." the Doctor smiled, "It's getting warm. The chick flies away and the eggshell disintegrates. Harmless."

"Did you know?" Clara demanded.

"You made your decision." the Doctor said, "Humanity made its choice."

"No," Lundvik shook her head, "we ignored humanity."

"Well, there you go."

"So what happens now, then? Tell me what happens now."

The Doctor closed her eyes, facing the creature in the sky, "In the mid-twenty first century humankind starts creeping off into the stars, spreads its way through the galaxy to the very edges of the universe. And it endures till the end of time." he turned back to them, frowning slightly seeing Raven leaning against the TARDIS, "And it does all that because one day in the year 2049, when it had stopped thinking about going to the stars, something occurred that make it look up, not down. It looked out there into the blackness and it saw something beautiful, something wonderful, that for once it didn't want to destroy. And in that one moment, the whole course of history was changed. Not bad for a girl from Coal Hill School, and her teacher." he grinned.

"Oh, my gosh!" Courtney gasped pointing at the sky, "It laid a new egg." a new moon hung in the sky, brand new without craters, as though nothing had happened, "it's beautiful. Doctor, it's beautiful."

"That's what we call a new moon." the Doctor laughed.

Courtney turned to Lundvik, "You can be the first woman on that."

"I think that somebody deserves a thank you." the Doctor muttered.

"Yeah, probably." Lundvik turned to Clara, "Thank you. Thank you for stopping me. Thank you for giving me the moon back."

Clara didnt responded, just a small curt nod, acknowledging her thank you. No sass, no smile at the beautiful new creature she saved. Nothing.

"Okay, Captain." the Doctor nodded, "Well, you've got a whole new space programme to get together. NASA is er..." he turned in a circle, getting his bearings, "it's that way. About two and a half thousand miles." he turned to Courtney, "You still got your vortex manipulators? I'll give you a run home."

~.~

"Why are you being so quiet?" the Doxtor asked Raven as they stood at the console, waiting for Clara and courtney to change out of their spacesuits ready to go back to school.

"I'm not." she replied, flicking a switch.

She just...even she knew that leaving Clara like that had been wrong and she was usually the person first in line to abandon humans, especially in situations where they could end up dying on a breaking moon. But...the Doctor was completely oblivious that anything was wrong. He didnt think that leaving Clara like that had clearly hurt her.

And she...she didnt want to leave them there, a decision like that, it wasnt fair to leave Clara to deal with that alone. It should have been the Doxtors decision, the eartg or an innocent creature, well, she knew instantly what she would choose.

And she hated herself for feeling guilty to leave Clara to deal with that.

She hated that they had left Clara.

The Doctor frowned at her, a quiet Raven was almost as bad as a quiet Clara, speaking of which, the woman had been silent as well.

"Not that it's any of my business," the Doctor began as the humans headed up to the console, back in their school clothes, "but I think you did the right thing."

"Yeah, you're right." Clara replied, her voice hard, "It's none of your business. Come on, Courtney, off you go. Double Geography."

Courtney glanced back as Clara ushered her out, "Can we do it again?"

"Go." Clara urged, not wanting the girl in the box any longer than necessary, she knew this was a bad trip from the beginning, "Go, go. Chop chop."

She waited until the doors had shut behind Courtney, turning to the Time Lords, fixing a glare to the Doctor, just knowing it had been his idea, "Tell me what you knew."

"Nothing." he shrugged, "I told you, I've got grey areas."

"Yeah. I noticed." she scoffed, "Tell me what you knew, Doctor, or else I'll smack you so hard you'll regenerate."

"I dont doubt you will." Raven muttered.

"Oh and you can be quiet." she snapped at her, the girl just shrugging and moving up to her armchair.

"I knew that eggs are not bombs." the Doctor told Clara, "I know they don't usually destroy their nests. Essentially, what I knew was that you would always make the best choice. I had faith that you would always make the right choice."

Clara scoffed as he smiled at her, like he had done nothing wrong, "Honestly, do you have music playing in your head when you say rubbish like that?"

"It wasn't our decision to make. I told you."

"Well, why did you do it? Was it for Courtney, was that it?"

"Well, she really is something special now, isn't she? First woman on the moon, saved the Earth from itself, and, rather bizarrely, she becomes the President of the United States. She met this bloke called Blinovitch...'

"Do you know what?" Clara snapped, "Shut up! I am so sick of listening to you!"

"Well, I didn't do it for Courtney. I didn't know what was going to happen. Do you think I'm lying?"

"I don't know." Clara shook her head, trying to fight agaisnt her tears, "I don't know. If you didn't do it for her, I mean. Do you know what? It was, it was cheap, it was pathetic. No, no, no. It was patronising!" she spat out, "That was you patting us on the back, saying, you're big enough to go to the shops by yourself now. Go on, toddle along."

"No, that was me allowing you to make a choice about your own future." the Doctor countered, "That was me respecting you."

"Oh, my God, really?" she shouted, "Was it? Yeah, well, respected isnothow I feel."

"Right." the Doctor blinked, so maybe his plan hadnt got entirely to plan. He looked up to Raven for help on what to say but she just stared back at him. Seems she didnt like his idea either.

"I nearly didn't press that button." Clara admitted, "I nearly got it wrong. That was you, my friend, making me scared. Making me feel like a bloody idiot."

"Language." the Doctor pointed at her.

That only set Clara off again, screaming at him, "Oh, don't you ever tell me to mind my language. Don't you ever tell me to take the stabilisers off my bike. And don't you dare lump me in with the rest of all the little humans that you think are so tiny and silly and predictable. You walk our Earth, Doctor, you breathe our air. You make us your friend, and that is your moon too. And you can damn well help us when we need it."

"I was helping." he defended lightly.

"What, by clearing off?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, well, clear off! Go on. You can clear off. Get back in your lonely, your lonely bloody TARDIS and you don't come back! You go away. Okay? You go a long way away."

And with that Clara stormed out, slamming the doors behind her as she went, leaving the room silent as the Doctor was stunned by her rage as he was only trying to help.

"I liked Clara." Raven called quietly, making the Doctor look up at her, surprised she was admitting that, "she was a decent ape and because of you she may never step foot in this TARDIS again." she shook her head, moving back down the stairs to get right in his face, "you ruined it because you always think you're right and now..." she blinked rapidly, hating the way her eyes stung, "you are not a good man, Doctor."

Like Clara, Raven stormed off, heading further into the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor staring after her, stunned at the emotion in her words, and very hurt by them.

**A/N: Im so sorry I haven't updated as often as I said I would, but my laptop charged decided to break on me so until I can find a new one I probably wont be able to update. Luckily I found an old draft on my phone for this episode and managed to edit it on my phone.****Hope you enjoyed.**


	11. Mummy on the orient express

Raven frowned as she made her way round the console, helping the Doctor pilot. Since Clara stormed out after the moon incident they had kept going to see her on Wednesdays, the Doctor truly wasn't sure if she had been honest when she said she didn't want to see them again. They landed at the school gates after hours before she left herself, but she just ignored the blue box standing there. Even when they landed outside her block of flats. She walked right past them.

Until the other day.

She had rung them a few weeks later for her (around a month), while only a few days for them. Apparently she had been angry, but she didn't want to end of bad terms like that. She had admitted that it had been Danny's idea not to leave on bad terms. And so she had requested one final trip.

The Doctor had decided on the Orient Express as their farewell trip. The space version. Which meant they needed to dress up, the Doctor was in a formal back suit with a floppy bow as he set them down.

Clara in a black and gold flapper dress with matching gloves, her hair in a bob. She was tense around the pair, but was at least still speaking to them.

The Doctor opened the doors, allowing Clara out first, "you're train awaits." He gestured around them.

"Wonderful." Clara looked around the cart, unimpressed.

"Baggage cart." Raven huffed as she shut the door behind her, dressed for the trip in a thin strapped, white flapper styled dress herself with a black lace design stitched on, stopping just above her knees with black tassels continuing to her to her mid-shins and white flats. A black headband around her head with a large white feather flower, black gloves reaching just above her elbows.

"The real wonderful is through here." The Doctor agreed, leading them down to the door, opening it, revealing the lounge cart, music playing from a band on a small platform, a jazz cover of 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen. People walking around, talking and laughing, plush chairs along the sides with a bar at the other end, armed guards positioned at the doors. "There were many trains to take the name Orient Express, but only one in space."

"Of course it is." Clara breathed.

"Completely faithful recreation of the original Orient Express." The Doctor continued, "Except slightly bigger. And in space. Oh, and the rails are actually hyperspace ribbons. But in every other respect, identical. Painstaking attention to detail."

A bald man in steampunk style clothes barged past, "most of the time." Raven grit her teeth, glaring after him but did no more.

The Doctor sighed, noticing Clara's expression, "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" she wondered, glancing at him slightly.

"The smile."

"Yeah, I'm smiling."

"It's the sad smile. It's a smile but you're sad. It's confusing. It's like two emotions at once. It's like you're malfunctioning."

"Sorry?"

"I just thought this would be a good one to…" he trailed off.

"To end it." She quickly finished for him, "Yeah. It is. It's a good choice. A good one to end on."

"Oh, great." Raven grumbled.

"What?" she glanced at the girl.

"After today I'm going to stuck with him alone," she jerked her head at the Doctor ignoring his 'Oi!', "until he finds another not even semi-decent ape to try and impress."

"Say things like that again, you almost sound like you care." Clara couldn't help but tease, even if she was still mad, (granted not quite as mad as she had been).

She scowled, seeing the Doctors expectant face, "I…do care," she admitted quietly, "Almost as much as I did Lucy."

"The step mother, yeah?"

"Hmm."

"Shall we?" the Doctor asked, noticing that Clara's smile seemed to brightened at the fact that Raven had admitted she thought she was a decent human. He took two flutes of champagne, handing one to Clara, keeping one himself as Raven snatched her own.

"Ladies and gentlemen." A speaker called, "If you would be good enough to look from the windows on the right of the train, you'll be able to see the soaring majesty of the Magellan black hole."

The trio turned to look out the window with the other passengers, "Oh, I remember when this was all planets as far as the eye could see." The Doctor remarked, "All gone now. Gobbled up by that beast. And there's that smile again." He sighed, seeing Clara's reflection in the window, "I don't even know how you do that."

"I really thought I hated you, you know?" she whispered, leaning her head on his arm as they looked out the window.

"Well, thank God you kept that to yourself." He rolled his eyes, "There was this planet, Obsidian. The planet of perpetual darkness."

"I did. I did hate you. In fact, I hated you for weeks."

"Good, fine." He nodded, "oh, Raven!" he whined wiping the champagne from his face, "really?" he turned to her as she set her now empty flute on a passing tray.

She smirked at him, sending a small jerk of her head to Clara where the girl was biting her lip to prevent a laugh.

He blinked at her, seeing she had done it to get Clara to cheer up, even if it was slightly. Wow, well done her, "Well, I'm glad that we cleared that up." He continued, pretending he didn't have the beverage dripping from his hair, "There was also a planet that was made completely of shrubs."

"I went to a concert once." Clara murmured, "Can't remember who it was. But do you know what the singer said?"

"Something stupid, from a stupid ape?" Raven suggested.

She rolled her eyes, "She said, 'hatred is too strong an emotion to waste on someone that you don't like.'"

"Were people really confused?" the Doctor frowned, "Cos I'm confused. Did everybody leave?"

"Shut up. Look, what I'm trying to say is, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. But I can't do this anymore. Not the way you do it."

"Can I talk about the planets now?" he huffed.

"Yes." She rolled her eyes at him. "Go."

"Thedion Four. Constant acid rain. Had a lovely picnic there once, wearing a gas mask."

"That's a lie." A voice cut in.

They all turned to see a blonde woman standing before them, dazed and fragile, "I'm sorry?" Clara blinked, it wasn't like the Doctor to lie about a planet as ridiculous as that. Not during a conversation like this. When trying to show off, yes, when saying goodbye, no.

"That's a lie," the woman repeated. "What you said. Thedion Four was destroyed thousands of years ago, so you couldn't have been there."

The Doctor stared, insulted at being interrupted when one of the guards came over, his uniformed covered with medals and golden decorations, a gun in his holster, "Miss Pitt, are you sure you wouldn't rather rest in your room?" he suggested gently, too gently to be know that he spoke to all passenger like that.

"That man's a liar." The woman, Miss Pitt, pointed at him.

"Perhaps you'd allow Mr Carlyle here to escort you back." He gestured another guard over.

"It'll be all right, miss." The other guard offered her his arm, "Just come with me."

"Sorry about that." The man apologised to the trio as the other guard led the woman out of the cart, "I suppose it's understandable in the circumstances. I don't believe we've been introduced. Captain Quell." He held a hand out.

Only Clara shook it, "I'm Clara. This is the Doctor and Raven."

"Ah, another one." He nodded.

"Another what?" Raven blinked.

"Well, we've got doctors and professors coming out of our ears on this trip. So, what are you a doctor of?"

"Now, there's a question that's never asked often enough." The Doctor muttered, "Let's say intestinal parasites." He offered.

Captain Quell eyed him, "I'm beginning to think Miss Pitt was right about you."

"What's wrong with her?" Clara asked gently, it wasn't hard to know something was wrong, the way she spoke, and was spoken too, "Did something happen?"

"You mean you really don't know?" he gaped and they shook their heads. He began to tell them about the woman's mother, and the curse of the mummy.

~.~

"There's a body and there's a mummy." Clara huffed as the trio walked down the corridor, towards the sleeping compartments. They had originally only come for diner, but upon hearing of the mummy's curse the Doctor wanted to extend the trip, using the physic paper to get themselves rooms, "I mean, can you not just get on a train? Did a wizard put a curse on you about mini-breaks?"

"It might be nothing." The Doctor argued, "Old ladies die all the time. It's practically their job description."

"And the monster?"

"Only the old woman saw it," Raven sipped her fresh champagne flute.

"A dying brain, lack of oxygen, hallucinations." The Doctor continued, "Anyway, people do just die sometimes. She was over a hundred years old."

"Says the 2000 year old man." Clara deadpanned, "and the 1000 year old villain in his care."

"I'm not a villain." Raven mumbled.

"You slaughtered 1/10 of the human race and left the remaining enslaved. That's villainous."

"Clara," the Doctor cut in, seeing Raven frowning at that, "you actually sound as if you want this to be a thing. Do you?"

"No." she shook her head, "No, look, fine. You know, if you think that there is nothing to worry about, then that is fine by me."

"Are you sure?" he eyed her.

"Ah, yes, I'm sure."

"To our last hurrah." Raven raised her flute.

"Our last," Clara swallowed, "yeah. I mean, it's not like I'm never going to see you again."

"Isn't it?" the Doctor frowned.

"Is it?"

"I thought that's what you wanted."

"No, what I mean, you're going to come round for dinner or something, aren't you? Do you, do you do that? Do you come round to people's houses for dinner?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I do that?"

"I don't know. I thought you might find it boring."

"Is it boring?"

"With apes." Raven called.

Clara didn't know how to take that. She was an ape, but Raven called her a decent human and so she wasn't sure if she was talking about her or others, "To the last hurrah." She raised her own flute.

"The last hurrah." The Doctor raised his, clinking them.

~.~

Raven groaned as she planted her face in the pillow on the top bunk. She had been bunked with the Doctor, the man on the bottom, having only been able to get them two rooms. Another thing that made people think they were related. Clara, was luckily alone in the room next door.

"It's nothing." The Doctor reassured himself, seemingly arguing with himself, out loud. "Nothing. Definitely. Sure? 99% sure. Really? 99% percent? That's quite high. Is that the figure you're sticking with? Ok, ok. 75%. Well, that's jumped quite a bit. You've just lost 24%. Because you know what this sounds like, don't you? No, do tell me. A mummy that only the victim can see. I was being rhetorical. I know exactly what this sounds like."

"Doctor…!" Raven whined seeing the man throw his jacket back on.

"What?" he huffed.

"Am I villainous?" she called, peeking over the edge of the bed safety rail. It was ridiculous that humans needed safety rails on bed from a height. How in their right mind would decide to roll out of the bed when they knew there was a good drop?

He blinked, he had been expecting her to complain about his ranting to himself, wanting to sleep or complaining to just leave whatever the mummy was. Not that. Anything but that. "Um…" he hesitated. She had enslaved the entire human race and turned his TARDIS into a paradox machine, and admitted that she didn't regret it, "well, in the past you have done villainous stuff." He noticed her face fall, "but! That was a one-time thing, you were scared and just did as the Master asked." She was such a daddy's girl. "And so, as much as you have made mistakes, you're not a bad person, Saska."

He let out a long low breath at that. He had made mistakes, some as bad as hers, even worse, decisions he had made himself. He had killed, killed and destroyed so many life's himself. But he always tried to make the right decisions for the rest of the universe.

A villain was someone who knew what they were doing was wrong but didn't care and kept doing it.

Neither of them, were villains, not really. Bad people, he could agree with that, but not villains.

She nodded, smiling, jumping from the top bunk, ignoring the stairs and landing in a low crouch before him, "should we wake Clara or let her sleep?" she inquired, following him out the room.

"Um…" he hesitated out of her door. He could hear her on the phone, no doubt to Danny Pink, "leave her." he decided. She didn't want this to be a thing and so he would let it be one…for her.

The duo followed the Doctors sonic into the engineering cart, tracing anything out of the ordinary that may help break this 'curse'.

Ravens face lit up at the room full of computer screens and blueprints, tools and scrap covering the workbenches. Oh, she loved this sort of stuff, engineering and mechanics was what she was good at.

The sonic increased as they passed a chair that looked like a pot was bubbling underneath.

"Beautiful bit of kit, isn't it, sir?" a voice called, making them turn to see a man in engineers uniform and cap, smiling at them as he walked over, "The Excelsior Life Extender. It's like driving around in a portable hospital."

"Yes, well, it didn't do Mrs Pitt much good, did it?" the Doctor countered, eying the large piece of metal in the mans hands.

"Got me there, sir." He chuckled, "Certainly got me there. Maybe it malfunctioned."

"Oh, I don't think so. The records show that the machine did everything it could to keep her alive."

"Yeah. And almost drained the battery doing it."

"What do you know?" Raven narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, I know that when I find a man and his…" he seemed hesitant, "daughter," the pair had grown so tired with being thought of as related didn't even call him out or complain, merely rolling their eyes, "fiddling with a chair that someone died in, it's best to play my cards close to my chest."

"Really?" the Doctor scoffed, "Well, I know that when I find a man loitering near a chair that someone died in, I do just the same."

"He's an engineer." Raven pointed out. She had a knack at finding engineers and mechanics'. But the uniform did give it away.

He nodded, "That's right, miss…"

"Raven."

"Miss, Raven." The Doctor smirked at her eye roll. "Perkins. Chief Engineer."

"The Doctor." He introduced, "Nosey Parker."

"Pleased to meet you, Doctor." He shook the mans hand, Raven hesitantly doing the same, "Course, there's a rumour that someone or something else might be responsible."

Raven smirked, "like what?"

Raven scanned the passengers' in the cart. A professor Moorhouse, was the expert on 'the Foretold' as most seemed to be calling the mummy. He had showed them the man from the passenger index, him" she led them over to a well-dressed man with a thin moustache, reading a book.

"What's the most interesting thing about the Foretold?" the Doctor asked, sliding into the seat opposite as Raven remained standing.

"I'm terribly sorry," the man blinked in surprise as they suddenly came and interrupted his reading, "I don't believe we've met."

"You know. The Foretold. Mythical mummy. Legend has it that if you see it, you're a dead man."

"Yes, I know what it is. You see, I happen to be…"

"Emil Moorhouse," Raven finished for him, "professor of alien mythology."

"I'm the Doctor." The man smirked, "this is Raven. Not my daughter, just in my care," the girl winked at him, "Pleased to meet you. So, the most interesting thing about the Foretold. Go."

"Er," Moorhouse fumbled at the bluntness, "well, it would have to be the time limit given before it kills you. I can't think of another myth where it's so specific. How does it go? Er, The number of evil twice over. They that bear the Foretold's stare have 66 seconds to live."

"No, no, no." the Doctor shook his head, "Nice try. Very atmospheric. But that's not it. Try again."

"A cynical man might say that you were trying to pump me for information." He eyed them, growing suspisious.

"The myth of the Foretold first appeared over 5000 years ago." The Doctor continued, "In some stories, there is a riddle or secret word that is supposed to make it stop. Some characters try to bargain with it, offer riches, confess sins. All to no avail." He pulled out a small cigarette case from his pocket offering the man…a jelly baby.

The man eyed him and the sweets, hesitantly taking one, "Well, you certainly know a little mythology."

"I know a lot." He remarked, offering one to Raven who shook her head, never was fond of Jelly babies like her father was. Or the Doctor so it seemed.

"Don't you like jelly babies?" he blinked at her.

She shook her head, "I preferred those thing with the marshmallow insides, coated with chocolate and sprinkles of coconuts."

"Snowballs!" he snapped his fingers at her.

"Got any?"

"…No." he looked back at the professor who was eyeing them oddly, before continuing, "Because, from time to time, it turns out to be true."

"But that's the great appeal, isn't it?" Moorhouse chuckled.

"Earth legends are such dry, dusty affairs, and always fiction. But up here, in the stars…"

"Anything's possible. That's why I chose this field, to be honest. Hoping one day I might meet a real monster."

"Isn't that everyone's dream? But you still haven't answered my riddle. What's the most interesting thing about the Foretold?"

"Well, you can't run from it, that's for sure. There are accounts of people trying, but it never works. No matter how far you run, it's always right there behind you."

"Nope." The Doctor sighed, "Even colder."

"All right, I give up, you tell me."

"Mrs Pitt, the old woman who died."

"She died of old age." Moorhouse brushed off, "Nothing supernatural."

"No. That's my answer."

"Her death?"

"The fact that you were here to witness it." Raven corrected, distracted by a commotion beginning, passengers shouting and guards rushing about.

"Excuse us, Professor." The Doctor stood, tugging Raven off after him to the commotion. Another death…this one in the kitchen.

"Captain Quell!" Raven called as they approached, getting his attention.

"I think we need to talk." The Doctor told him.

"This matter does not concern the passengers." He waved them off, straightening.

"We're not passengers. We're your worst nightmare." He pulled out the psychic paper, holding it up to the man.

"A mystery shopper." He stared in horror, "Oh, great..."

"You're kidding…" Raven blinked, "that's really your worst nightmare?"

"Right," the Doctor nodded, "to start with; I could do with an extra pillow and we're very disappointed with your breakfast bar and all of the dying."

"Perhaps we could talk somewhere more private," he muttered, glancing around before gesturing them to follow him down to the front of the train to his office, moving straight to a cabinet and pour them each a drink. "This is not exactly within your job description…" he sighed.

"Come on, Captain." The Doctor spoke, "Where would we all be if we all followed our job descriptions, hmm? Good question. Glad you asked. In your case, you'd be doing something instead of climbing inside a bottle."

"I have followed the procedure for accidental death to the letter."

"Yes, I'm sure you have." Raven took a sip of her drink, "And I'm sure you do just enough of your job to avoid complaints."

"You don't know anything about me." He commented.

"Wounded in battle, honourable discharge." The Doctor pouted at the man's badges, "And this is just a guess, but I think you've had the fight knocked out of you. You expected this to be a cushy desk job where you could put your head down until retirement. Well, I'm sorry. As of today, that dream is over."

"There is no evidence of any attack or other parties…"

"Yes, let's just sit around and wait for the evidence while the bodies pile up. Or here's a crazy thought. We could do something to stop it. Why are we even talking to him?" he grumbled to Raven.

"Hell if I know." She frowned, she was just following him around.

Like how she was now just following him out of the office where Perkins stood outside waiting, with rolled up papers in his hands.

"Er, passenger manifest, plan of the train, and a list of stops for the past 6 months." He handed the papers over.

"Quick work, Perkins," the Doctor eyes him as Raven took the papers, "maybe too quick."

"Yes, sir." He rolled his eyes good naturally, "I'm obviously the mummy. Or perhaps I was already looking into this."

"Not bad." Raven had to admit, before her eyes widened. She just compliments a human she met just a few minutes prior. What was happening to her?

The Doctor and Raven watch the footage Perkins had managed to find from the death of Mrs Pitt as she was at dinner with Maisie, standing back in the engineer's carriage.

The woman really was very old, sitting there, screaming and yelling about something coming for her. The Doctor glanced at his watch, timing the recording from the moment she first noticed the mummy that no one else could see to the moment she died.

"66 second." The Doctor confirmed. "It fits the myth."

"Did you see the lights flicker?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, the lights went in the kitchen as well just before the chef saw it." Perkins added.

"In all of the accounts," professor Moorhouse remarked, "conventional weapons have no effect on the Foretold. It's immortal, unstoppable, unkillable."

"Can we get a new expert?" Perkins asked.

~.~

The Doctor was looking through various papers that Perkins had provided, while the engineer and professor slept while the train was in night mode. The windows rising to signify morning.

Raven groaned from where she took a quick nap on the floor before the Doctor. "How long was I asleep for?" she murmured, stretching and rubbing her eyes.

"Couple of hours," he answered moving to an intercom on the wall, pointing his sonic at it and disconnecting it from the wall, knowing that now it was a safe hour to call Clara, "Clara?"

"Doctor?" Clara voice responded.

"Wake up sleepy-head. Time for breakfast. Knowing this train, it'll taste Amazing."

"Doctor, please, I'm in trouble…"

"Can't even get that right, huh?"

"Doctor…"

"Clara where are you?" Raven yawned, stretching again, the floor wasn't quite as comfy to sleep on as she had thought.

"The baggage cart…"

Raven groaned at the Doctor took off to find her, she followed, leaving the two humans to wake up. As they ran to the baggage cart, the door locked.

"Clara!" the Doctor hammered on the door, "Is that you?"

"Yes." Clara voice called, muffled by the door, "Yes. Hello. Can you hear us?"

The Doctor worked on the lock…only for the system to shock him, "Ow! Computer, can you open the door, please?"

"Call me Gus." The voice called through the speakers, "I'm afraid this door can only be opened by executive order."

"Oh. Forget it." He huffed, flashing his sonic on it, but it stuttered and stopped, "Oh. Now the stupid sonic…"

"What?" Clara shouted through the door.

"Screwdriver's not working."

Raven frowned, pressing her own, still in her ear, under the large flower she still had in her hair, it hissed but did nothing, "neither's mine."

"What do you mean, they're not working?" Clara called, "Why?"

"I don't know." The Doctor frowned, "Some sort of a suppression field, I would guess. And it has to be a guess because, as I say, the stupid sonic screwdriver's not working. What are you even doing in there?"

"Well, I was looking for you Mister Nothing To Worry About."

"What, were we supposed to waken you up? Drag you out of bed because I had a hunch? I thought you didn't want to do this anymore?"

"Ooh it's too early to be arguing." Raven whined.

"Look," Clara cut in, "please, can we just not do this now? I think we might not be alone in here." He voice quietened, "There's a sarcophagus."

"Is it in there?" the Doctor whispered.

"I think we might just be about to find out. Turns out the sonic is working just not on the door we need."

The light flickered above, just like the when the Foretold had come for Mrs Pitt and the chef, "Clara, it's coming." The Doctor warned as Raven tried to bypass the suppression field by hand.

"It's okay." Clara murmured a moment later, "It's er…it's full of bubble wrap."

"Bubble wrap?" Raven repeated.

"But the lights…" the Doctor trailed.

"You two!" Quell's voice shouted, quickly hurried to them followed by two armed guards, "move away from the door." He ordered, the twos pointing their guns at them.

"My friend's inside." Raven stated, blinking as she realised she had called Clara, a human, her friend. Oh, she really was a mess, wasn't it? One minutes she hated humans, the next she called them her friend. She called her decent, and then an ape girl. She enslaved the human race, and then she was helping to save it. It was utterly random.

"Then they're in trouble, too." Quell reasoned, "I spoke to Head Office. There is no mystery shopper. You're not even on the passenger list."

"Took you long enough." Raven shrugged.

"Clara, we're going to have to call you back." The Doctor mumbled.

"Come on." Quell gestured the guard forwards, handcuffing the pair with their arms behind their backs, leading them down the corridor.

"You know, I'm going to have to mark you down for this." The Doctor remarked.

"You are not a mystery shoppers. For all I know, you're the one behind the killings."

"Hardly!" Raven scoffed, "I haven't kill anyone in ages! I'm going to lose my touch." The worst thing was that she hadn't even thought anything of it.

"Oh, come on, Captain." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "How many people have to die before you stop looking the other way?"

~.~

They were lead towards the lounge, needing to pass through to reach the holding area when a guard fired his gun at something only he could see, the passengers screaming and ducking to avoid being hit.

"What do you think you're doing, man?" Quell demanded.

"Please, please!" the man cried, tripping as he stumbled back, dropping his gun, "Stop! No…"

They could only stare in horror as the man threw his head back, before collapsing to the ground, unmoving.

"Get up, man. That's an order!" Quell shouted, but the man remained still until a passenger in a white lab coat stepped forwards, checking for a pulse. Shaking his head, unable to find one.

Quell stared in silence as Moorhouse handed him the fallen guards gun. The captain handed it to another guard, turning to the Time Lords and silently uncuffing them, clearly they were NOT the killers, "It turns out it's three." He swallowed hard, "The amount of people that had to die before I stopped looking the other way."

"Thank you." The Doctor offered.

"Same as the others?" Perkins asked quietly, moving to stand beside's them.

"Excuse me please." A guard moved the body out of the room, "Take his feet. Excuse me please."

"Ladies and gentlemen," the Doctor called to the gathering passengers, "could I have a moment of your time, please? There's a monster on this train that can only be seen by those about to die. If you do see it, you will have exactly 66seconds left in which to live. But that isn't even the strangest thing. Do you know what is? You. The passengers. Experts in alien biology, mythology, physics. If I was putting together a team to analyse this thing, I'd pick you. And I think somebody has. Someone of immense power and influence has orchestrated this whole trip. Someone who I have no doubt is listening to us right now. So, are you going to step out from behind the curtain and give us our orders?"

The room fell silent, but Perkins noticed something only an engineer could, "The engines…"

"They've stopped." Raven agreed.

A moment later the room shimmering into a laboratory.

"And the facade drops away because what use are a bunch of scientists without a lab?" Raven sighed.

And a moment later the extra passengers disappeared as well.

"Teleporter?" Perkins frowned.

"No. Hard light holograms." The Doctor corrected, "They were never really here. Fake passengers to make up the numbers."

"That was my best guard." Quell murmured.

"Good morning, everyone." The computerised voice called from a monitor, the trains logo shifting to a monocle, "Around the room you will find a variety of scientific equipment. Your goal is to ascertain the Foretold's true nature, probe for weaknesses with a view to capture, after which we will reverse engineer its abilities. Isn't this exciting?"

"You said capture," the Doctor frowned, "implying that you can't control this thing. And yet somehow you got it on board. How?"

"There is an artefact, an ancient scroll. I have highlighted it for your convenience. For reasons currently unknown, the Foretold appears in the vicinity of this artefact." A small spotlight illuminated at the end of the carriage, revealing an old scroll in a frame on the wall, not quite earthen as the cuneiform scrawl on earth was usually set into clay.

"And kills at regular intervals." Raven murmured.

"Then just maybe we should throw this thing out in the airlock." Quell stepped to do just that…only to get a shock when he tried to touch it.

"I doubt you're the first," Raven said, dryly, "took precautions."

"What if we say no?" Moorhouse called to the voice, "Down tools. Refuse to work."

"That is your choice, of course." The voice agreed, "But it would be very upsetting were you all to die at the hands of the Foretold."

"So hurry up, before it kills you." Perkins muttered.

"But even if they agree to this, how are they supposed to study a creature that they can't even see?" the Doctor pondered, "We don't even know what the species is." As soon as he finished speaking, the lights flickered, "Perkins, start the clock." The Doctor called, knowing that the flickering lights meant that someone was about to see the Foretold.

"Approximately 1.8 metres tall." Moorhouse described making the Time Lord turned to see him staring tensed at something at the end of the room, "Actually, seeing it in the flesh isn't nearly as rewarding as I thought it might be."

"Oh, dear." The Doctor breathed, Moorhouse had been the expert on the Foretold, "Hard cheese. What can you see? Details."

"Yes. Yes, of course, of course. Uh, well, it just looks like er…a man in bandages. I…"

"New or old bandages?" Raven asked.

"Old." He swallowed.

"Whole?" the Doctor inquired, "Ragged? Listen to me! You can see this thing. We can't. Tell us what you can see. Even the smallest detail might help save the next one."

"The next one?" the man stiffened at the words, "You mean you can't save me?"

"Well, what were you expecting?" Raven shrugged, "you're the first. Chances are it would get to the last…two?" she glanced at the Doctor, hoping that they'd both survive, "before we can stop it."

"But make it count." The Doctor added, "Details, please."

Moorhouse stumbled back, trying to describe it the best he could, "Er, flesh. Some of it is visible."

"30 seconds." Perkins warned.

"Er, leathery. Ancient looking. Peat bog preserved."

"Keep talking." The Doctor nodded, "Don't waste this chance."

"I want to bargain for my life!" he suddenly exclaimed, "it…it says, some of the myths say if you, if you find the right word, if you make the right offer, then it lets you go."

"This is not a myth." Raven shook her head, "This is real."

"Forget your superstitions." The Doctor agreed with her, "Tell us what you can see."

"This is my life," he swallowed, "my death. I'm going to fight for it how I want. Er, I give you…"

"10 seconds." Perkins called.

"My soul. I confess all sins. I give you all my worldly goods. Only…please, please, please." He held his hands, trying to block something, swatting his arms around as thought something was reaching for him, "No!" that was his last word as he collapsed to the floor.

Dead.

"0." Perkins murmured.

"We apologise for any distress you may have just experienced." The speakers called, "Grief counselling is available on request. On the bright side, I'm sure you've all collected a lot of data. Well done, everyone!"

"It's recording every death." Perkins gaped, horrified at that fact.

"Of course it is." The Doctor sighed, "That's why we're here. To study our own demise. So let's get to work. Come on. Chop, chop." He glanced at Raven seeing her watching to men move Moorhouse to another compartment, "you alright?"

"You're not going to let it kill me are you?" she murmured, knowing they had both allowed the professor to die without a second thought, just like 1/10 of the human population.

"I've got a duty of care." He mumbled.

"Which you take very seriously." She nodded.

"I promise, Raven. I won't let it kill you."

"And…I won't let it get you."

He smiled grimly, moving to sonic one of the comms to contact Clara in the baggage cart trapped with Maisie. "Clara Oswald."

"Ok." The woman cut him of whatever else he was going to say, "So, first things first. The sarcophagus is actually a secure stasis unit."

"Yes." He nodded slowly, seeing that Clara was getting involved, even if she didn't know it, "It's where they want us to put the Foretold if we capture it."

"Well, that would have been good to know."

"Sorry." He winced, "Teeny bit busy round here. What else?"

"Please terminate your call and return to work." the speakers called.

"We have some paperwork." Clara continued, "Passenger manifests from other ships. Maisie recognised a couple of the names. These are missing ships."

"So, we're not the first." Raven mused.

"No." Clara agreed.

"Please terminate your call and return to work."

"Shut up!" Raven huffed at the speakers.

"I've got some progress reports." Clara added, "The Gloriana spent three days getting picked off by the Foretold. All died. Performance marked as poor. The Valiant Heart. 42 crew, 4 died. Performance, promising..."

"Please terminate the call and return to work."

"I think you should do as it says." Quell murmured, his gaze lock on the window, where the catering staff and various equipment was floating outside, all dead.

"Clara, we have to go." The Doctor murmured down the comm before hanging up.

"I'm sorry." The speaker called, "I know that must have been distressing for you. But if you are disobedient again, I will decompress another area containing less valuable passengers."

"Less valuable passengers?" the Doctor frowned, "How does it choose?"

"Not random." Raven remarked.

"Well, I'm assuming qualifications." Perkin shrugged.

"No, no, no." the Doctor shook his head, "Not the computer, the Foretold. How does it choose who to kill? We've assumed it's random. What if it's not? I want full histories on all the victims. Medical, social, personal."

Perkins nodded and moved to a monitor, as the speaker spoke again, "Well done."

"Don't mention it." The Doctor glared at the speaker.

"Doesn't seem to be any pattern." Perkins frowned as he looked through the records of the previous victims, "Their travel history, interests, health. It's all over the shop. Health?"

"Health?" Raven repeated "Mrs Pitt was over 100 years old. Frailest onboard."

"Oh but the next to go, the chef, was young and fit. It's random."

"The chef was ill." Quell called, making them look at him, "A rare blood disorder. Not contagious, but we kept it quiet."

"Because he worked with food." The Doctor understood.

"And the guard?" Raven wondered.

"He wasn't ill as such," Quell admitted, "but he did have synthetic lungs implanted last year."

"Professor Moorhouse." Perkins called, bringing up the mans health records on the monitor, "It seems he was physically fine but suffering from…here we are. Regular panic attacks after a car crash last year."

"It's picking off the weakest first." The Doctor mused, "Sensing the illness somehow. The fake organs, even psychological issues. But this is good news, because it means we can work out who is next. I want the medical records of everybody alive who is still on board. If anyone's had as much as a cold, I want to know about it."

"You really think it can sense psychological issues?" Quell scoffed.

"It seems so. Why?"

"When you said I'd lost the stomach for a fight, I wasn't wounded in battle as such, but…my unit was bombed. I was the sole survivor. Not a scratch on me."

"PTSD." Raven murmured.

He nodded, "Nightmares. Still can't sleep without pills."

"Which means that you are probably next." The Doctor eyed him, "Which is good to know."

"Well, not for me." He glared.

"Well, of course not for you, because you're going to die. But I mean for us, from a research point of view."

"You know, for a doctor, your bedside manner leaves…" the lights flickered and he tensed, his gaze on something behind them.

"Clock, Perkins." Raven instructed.

"What can you see?" the Doctor asked Quell.

"Almost feels out of focus." He squinted to where he was seeing the mummy, "Gives me a headache just looking at it." He drew out his gun, aiming.

"Oh no, no, no, no." the Doctor groaned, "That didn't work before."

"What kind of soldier would I be, dying with bullets in my gun?" he countered, firing, the scientist ducking as he continued to fire until he ran out of bullets.

"50 seconds." Perkins called.

"Someone shut that man up!" Quell snapped, "For the record, it didn't even flinch."

"Where is it now?" the Doctor watched as the man backed away.

"Approximately 20 feet in front of me and closing."

"40 seconds."

The Doctor moved into Quell line of sight, "Am I close?"

The man gasped, "It's passing right through you, like a ghost."

Perkins held up the scanner to the area Quell said the Foretold was, picking up nothing, "It's not a hologram…"

"If you move, will it follow?" the Doctor looked at Quell.

"Do you want me to move? Because I can certainly do that."

"Keep looking at it, but back off quick as you like."

The man nodded, running to the other end of the carriage only to jump back, "It's teleported away. It's behind me."

"20 seconds."

"I think this is it." Quell swallowed, "Still, suppose it's not a bad way to go. Blood pumping, enemy at the gates and all that. And thank you, Doctor, for waking me up. It's reaching for me. Hands on my head."

"0." Perkins sighed as Quell dropped to the floor.

"Teleporter." The Doctor frowned, seeing Raven having flashed her sonic as Quell lost his life, "That means tech. Then 66 seconds to do what? 66 seconds. That seems very, very specific. Too specific for organic. So, what, more tech? What? More? A countdown clock? Something charging?"

"A man just died in front of us." Perkins glared, "Can we not just have a moment?"

"And waste what time we have?" Raven argued, "Thanks, but I'd rather get this over with and then you can mourn everyone at once."

"What takes 66 seconds to charge up or to change state?" the Doctor shook his head. He knew why Raven didn't mourn, she never did care much for humans, and now with her own life in danger that self-preversation of hers was kicking in and she just wanted to save her own life. Damn anyone else. "Anyone?" he looked around the room, "Am I surrounded by idiots?"

"Well, apes." Raven corrected with a shrug.

"If only I could see this thing."

"Don't even joke about that!"

He looked at her, noticing a concerned tone in her words. Like she would care if it tried to kill him. That girl was so full of surprises, "I'm not joking about it. One minute with me and this thing, it would be over!"

"You know, Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant." Perkins glared.

"Arrogant." Raven answered promptly.

"Really?" the Doctor huffed, "on a good day, I'm both."

"Nope! Just arrogant."

He ignored her, "Ancient tech. This thing has been around for centuries. How? Tech that keeps it alive. Tech that drains energy from the living. Scanner." He snatched it from the engineer, scanning Quells corpse and tossing it back, "Deep tissue scan. He's been leached of almost all energy on a cellular level. The heart attack is just a…is just a side effect."

"Oh, it's not just a mummy, it's a vampire." Perkins realised, "Metaphorically speaking."

"But why take 66 seconds to drain us?" the Doctor wondered, "Why not just pounce?"

"Phase. Moving energy out of phase. That takes about a minute, doesn't it?"

"That's why only the victims can see it. It takes them out of phase so it can drain their energy." The Doctor realised, "You, sir, are a genius! This explains everything! Apart from what it is and how it's doing it. Sorry, I jumped the gun there with you're a genius that explains everything remark."

Perkins blinked "I think we know the next victim." He handed him the scanner with the information of the next victim.

"Ah, of course." He breathed, "That makes perfect sense." He moved back to the comm. to speak with Clara, "Clara?"

"There's nothing else..." She responded.

"We've worked it out. It's picking out the weak…illnesses psychological or bodily. You're little friend is next."

They could almost imagine Clara shaking her head, "Look, she's had a bad day. That's all."

"Clara, it doesn't care. Her bad day, her bereavement, her little breakdown puts her squarely in its cross hairs. She's next. Every simulation we've run confirms it."

"Ok," she sucked a breath, "but…but we're in here and, if we stay in here, that thing can't."

"This thing can teleport. We need her here. Even the computer agrees."

"Ok, so you can save her? Right?"

"Of course not." He scoffed, "Why would you think that? This is another chance to observe it in action."

"As it kills her." she added bitterly.

"Of course, as it kills her. If it happens in there, it'll be a waste, so bring her to us."

"How?" she whispered, "How exactly? She's never going to agree to this."

"Well, I don't know." He shrugged, "Lie to her. Tell her I can save her. Whatever it takes to get her here." He rolled his eyes, dropping the comm and walking away from it. Even he knew Clara was not happy with the plan. But it was the only plan they had.

~.~

It didn't take long for the two women to enter the cart, the Doctor meeting them half way.

"Hello, again." The woman smiled, shaking his hand, "I'm Maisie."

"Good for you." He replied.

"We passed the TARDIS on the way here." Clara remarked, "Thought about getting inside, hiding, pulling the levers and hoping for the best. But we couldn't even get in. There was a forcefield around it."

"It's probably our captor, trying to block our escape route." Raven sighed. Oh she just wanted to go and take a long bath and nap.

"But how does he even know what it is?" Clara frowned at that, "Cos if he knows what it is, then he knows what you are."

"Well, he has tried to entice me here before." The Doctor recalled, "Free tickets, mysterious summons, he even phoned the TARDIS number. Do you know how difficult a number…"

"You knew." Clara glared, "You knew this was no relaxing break. You knew this was dangerous."

"I didn't know. I certainly hoped."

"Ok, this." Clara gestured to him, "You see, this. This is why I'm leaving you. This. Because you lied. You lied to me, again. And now you've made me lie. You've made me your accomplice!" she turned to Raven, "and you are as bad as him."

The lights flickered above them and the Doctor turned to Maisie as the Foretold appeared before her only to spin to Raven hearing her gasp besides him, seeing her staring at something behind him in sheer terror. No…

"Raven…" he breathed.

"You promised!" she screamed at him, seeing the mummy slowly reaching for her, "you promised me!"

"The scanner." Perkin shook his head, starting the countdown. It was confirmed to be Maisie.

"Doctor?" Clara eyed him, seeing him staring in horror that Raven was the one seeing the mummy, not Maisie as he told her. Not his plan, then.

"I…I don't…" he shook his head. What the hell kind of trauma could Raven be dealing with that he hadn't noticed?

"You promise!" she cried, frozen on the spot. The Foretold, not killing her until the end of the countdown.

"40 second…" Perkins whispered.

The Doctors mind raced, 60 seconds with him and he would have solved it that was his plan. But he couldn't do anything without seeing it. And they couldn't be sure if they would regenerate after, by the way it seemed to kill, it didn't seem likely.

"What do I do?! Doctor! Please!" she stumbled back, the mummy matching her pace. "I don't want to die…"

"10…"

"I'm so sorry, Raven." The Doctor breathed, utterly hearts broken he had ended her life this way. Without seeing the mummy himself, seeing what the humans wouldn't notice he couldn't stop it and Raven was too terrified to do anything to try and save herself.

She choked back tears as Perkins called for 5 seconds, the Foretold reaching for her and in a final act of fear, cried, "I surrender!" tightly closing her eyes as the countdown finished. "please…"

"Raven…"

She dared peek an eye open at the Doctors voice, the Foretold standing there, everyone looking at it, now able to see it. "what…not dead…I..." she sagged in relief.

"There's something visible under the bandages." The Doctor squinted, seeing the Foretold saluting at Raven, the girl utterly confused how she had stopped it, "Markings like the ones the scroll." He needed to ask her what was so wrong with her that she had been the chosen victim with more tumour than Maisie, especially how the scanner hadn't even recognised her, "A tattered piece of cloth attached to a length of wood that you will kill for. That doesn't sound like a scroll. That sounds like a flag! And if that sounds like a flag, if this is a flag, that means that you are a soldier! And now the clock has stopped, you a relieved." He saluted back, the Foretold turning to a pile of dust and bandages. The Doctor crouching and picking up a small blue box with wires sticking out of it.

"We were fighting that?" Clara stared at it, moving to Raven's side to comfort the girl. It seemed not even she had been expecting to be a victim, let alone right then.

"So was he." The Doctor murmured.

"Listen, what I said…"

"Save it." He cut her off, he needed to speak with Raven first before the human tried to apologise, "We're not out of the woods yet. Well, Gus, I think we solved your little puzzle. Ancient soldier being driven by malfunctioning tech."

"Thank you so much for your efforts." The speakers called, "They are greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, survivors of this exercise are not required."

"You're kidding." Raven gasped, for the moment reverting back to her bitter birdy self realising she had saved herself for just a few extra minutes.

"Ah, well, there's a shocker." The Doctor rolled his eyes as he flashed his sonic at the box.

"Air will now be removed from the entire train." The speakers continued as the humans struggled to breathe as they suffocated, "We hope you have enjoyed your journey on the Orient Express."

"I take it you know a way out?" Clara choked out.

"My enemy's enemy is my friend." He muttered, working quickly, "Especially when he has a built in teleporter."

"Great! So use it!"

"A little more work."

"Doctor!" Clara gasped.

"Couple of minutes. Max. I'll give you a shout." He winced as Clara passed out with the other passages, managing to get them away just as the train exploded.

~.~

The Doctor sat in a chair at the end of the occupied bed in the TARDIS medbay. He had managed to teleport everyone off the train and into the TARDIS with a second to spare. Took them to a local hospital, seeing how most of the humans had passed out from lack of air. They were fine, though. He had tried to find out who had sent them there, that had been the reason the train blew up, it didn't like that and so he still didn't know.

He and Clara had managed to have a little talk. The woman having gone to take a long relaxing bath to calm down, having been thinking he had been heartless when he told her he was sending Maisie to her death, not wanting their captor to know his real plan. But of course it had gone after Raven instead. And he really wanted to know what was going on in her mind for the Foretold to go to her. He realised why it had shown her on the scanner. A stupid mistake that it was only set for humans, a quick add of Time Lord Brainwaves and it showed that Raven had indeed been next, Maisie after her. That idiotic mistake almost got her killed.

He glanced up hearing her stir, the girl groaning, blinking at the sudden brightness of the room, "so…" he began.

She rubbed her eyes, shifting to sit up, guessing the reason he was here. Usually he just left her and when she felt better she would just leave by herself. "I…maybe be having an identity crisis." She finally admitted what was wrong.

"Why?"

"I…um…I do regret it. I…just wanted to impress my dad. I didn't really want to destroy the planet and rule it. I was only doing as he asked." He wasn't as good as her with machines, especially TARDISes, he had needed her to turn the TARDIS into the paradox machine. He asked so nicely, praising her skills when she succeeded that she just went alone with it. When they brought the Toclafane back she had loved seeing that she had succeeding into turning her into a paradox machine. The Master had suggested she made the most of her time stuck on board the Valiant trying different way to bring Jack back. She had been so interested at first, see how even when his skin had gotten melted off it had eventually regrown like new. But once she ran out of new ways to kill him had quickly gotten tired of being trapped inside. It was boring and dull. Nothing to do but listen to people scream in terror.

Everyone dying everyday as they destroyed the planet below.

Everyone thought she enjoyed it and so she kept the act up. Even after the year was reversed. She was never one to admit she was wrong…until now it seemed.

"I'm sorry." She hung her head.

The Doctor sighed, Raven was such a daddy's girl always had been, always wanted to impress him. But he could understand he doing as he asked, when he showed he cared, this regeneration of hers, she spent about 70 odd years trapped at the end of the universe, seeing her father age before her as a human, having refused to let her through that pain. Just the fact that he so much as recognised her as family would have sent her to do anything he asked, "Sometimes…the only choices are bad ones…" he closed his eyes, he had just said this to Clara, when she mentioned him sending Maisie to her death, "but we still have to choose."

"Like either going against family or destroying the Earth." Raven nodded slowly, "what do we do now?"

"We find out if Clara still wants to leave."

"I mean us."

"You don't keep anymore secrets from me." He looked at her, "especially if bad on your health."

"Thank you…" Raven whispered.

~.~

Raven slowed her walking as she entered the console room having gone to change out of her dress, seeing the Doctors put-down expression as Perkins headed to the door. Clara on the upper gallery, mobile in hand. As Raven joined the Doctor by the console, offering him a cup of coffee. She'd made herself tea after she had gotten changed and thought it would be decent if she made him a drink as well, a silent thank you in a way.

"You haven't got coffee, have you?" he asked her. Last time he had seen her have so much as a sip of an expresso she had been hyper for a couple of days.

She rolled her eyes good naturally, "green tea." She corrected.

"Do you love it?" Clara called down to them.

"Love what?" the Doctor blinked at her.

"I know it's scary and difficult, but do you love being the man making the impossible choice?"

"Why would I?"

"Because it's what you do, all day, every day."

"It's my life." He shrugged, sipping his coffee.

"Doesn't have to be. Is it like…an addiction?"

"Once you go bad you can't really go…back."

Clara blinked, her gaze turning to Raven. How the girl spoke, almost like she knew from experience.

"You can't really tell if something's an addiction till you try and give it up." The Doctor added. It was. He knew it was, especially when he saw Raven. The littlest slips and boom! She was thinking of unique ways to kill someone.

"And you never have." Clara spoke softly.

"Let me know how it goes."

Clara glanced down at her phone in her hand as it rang. The Time Lord waving her off to answer it, "Hey, Danny." She turned her back on them for a little more privacy, "How are you? Yep. Mission accomplished. Listen, I can't talk now but I'll see you soon and, er, I love you…huh. No accounting for taste."

"Boyfriend?" Raven called as the human hung up. Who else was she going to say 'I love you' to in that tone.

"What did he want?" the Doctor wondered, finishing his coffee. He wouldn't lie, it wasn't half bad. He would admit it out loud either, though.

Clara took a breath as she turned back to them, "He's fine with it."

"Sorry?"

"Danny. He's fine with the idea of me and you knocking about. It was his idea that we stop but, he's decided he doesn't mind and neither do I. Oh, to hell with the last hurrah. Let's keep going."

"That's a big change of heart." The Doctor smiled.

"Yeah, they happen."

"Seriously?"

"Look, as long as you get me home safe and on time, everything is great. I am so sorry. I've had a wobble. It's a big wobble, but it's fine. Forget about it. Now, shut up and give me some planets."

"Well, I'm glad that you said that, because you know that one that's made entirely of shrubs. Are you sure about this?"

"Are you? Have you ever been sure?"

"No."

She smirked at Raven, "sure you can put up with a stupid ape girl?"

"You're a decent human, Clara." She corrected, the woman raising her eyebrows, "you could say I had a wobble, myself." She smirked.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she grinned, "Let's go." She pulled the lever before the Doctor could, sending them off.


	12. Flatline

Raven sat the armchair, her sonic in her hands and she tinkered with it to make it isomorphic. It probably wasn't the wisest what with it being quite risking that it would then only work for her but it always was attached to her ear so the only way someone would even use it was if she gave it to them or they pulled it from her ear.

She glanced down to the main console seeing Clara walking up with a few of her possessions.

"You could leave all that stuff here, you know." The Doctor remarked from the console, "We do have literally acres of room."

"Oh, no. It's all right." She waved him off, "Danny's got a little bit territorial. The idea of me leaving so much as a toothbrush here. But, still, he's all right with us doing this which I admit is a little bit weird, cos you'd think if he had a problem with me leaving stuff in the TARDIS, he'd object to me travelling in the TARDIS. But he's not, so..."

She trailed realising she was rambling quite a bit and one of them would notice but the Doctor was just frowning at the monitor as he set them down. Raven glanced at her, almost looking like she was going to say something before she shook her head and went back to her sonic. She had muttered something about isomorphic controls? Or something? So it would only work for her.

"Sorry. Stopped listening a while ago." The Doctor admitted, "Ok. Er, same time you left, same place-ish.

"Ish?" Clara repeated, "Don't give me an ish."

"These readings are very er, ishy."

"How so?" Raven wondered, setting her sonic aside and walking down to look at the monitor herself, huffing as it showed nothing out of the ordinary, "useless as always."

"Er, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up at Clara voice, seeing her staring at the doors and moved round to join her, blinking as he saw that the doors had suddenly shrunk, standing around a metre high.

"That's...different." Raven offered, peering round the console herself as the Doctor squeezed his way out, Clara simply having to duck to following out to a vacant train yard, hearing a train of a track a short distance away.

"Oh, Doc!" The man turned to the TARDIS, seeing that the box was now shorter and Raven still inside of the closed doors. He was sure Clara had left them open when she followed him out just a second ago, "She's locked me in!" Raven whined.

He rolled his eyes, pushing the doors to find they wouldn't budge. "This is what happens when you insult the scanner." He told her, hearing her huffing through the doors.

"You mean she shrunk the doors in spite of me."

"No..." he murmured. "The exterior dimensions are smaller. I wander what caused this? I don't think we're bigger, are we?" He flashed his sonic at Clara.

"Bristol?" The woman huffed, spotting a sigh nearby, "Doctor, we're in Bristol!"

"And a 120 miles from where we should be. Impressive."

"No. Not impressive. Annoying."

"This is impressive." The Doctor gestured to the TARDIS, "This is annoying." And at Clara. "The TARDIS never does this. This is huge! Well, not literally huge. Slightly smaller than usual. Which is huge."

"Yes. I get it. You're excited. When can I go home?" The woman huffed.

"Maybe when the old cow decides to unlock the doors," Raven grumbled from the other side.

"Maybe if you stopped calling her an old cow, she'd try to be civil." He countered, almost able to hear her rolling her eyes. "Your house isn't going anywhere." He added to Clara, "And neither is mine...ours," he corrected himself. It was his and Ravens, well, more like a travel home for Raven, seeing as how when, or if, they found Gallifrey she would likely elect to stay unless with good reason not to, "until I get this figured out. Could you not just let me enjoy this moment of not knowing something? I mean, it happens so rarely. Look, I don't think this is dangerous, but I wouldn't like you to get squished accidentally."

"And what about me?" Raven called.

"You'll be fine," he waved her off, "she's just messing around. She won't really kill you."

"I'll go take a look around." Clara offered, walking in the direction of the town centre.

"Doctor!" Raven whined, "You're wife is being mean to me."

"Pay back for turning her into a paradox machine," he shot back, trying to unlock the doors, but still they wouldn't open. The old girl really did have it in for her. He sighed, "Right, I'm going to have to go with Clara. We'll be back in a few. Try to be nice!" He suggested before jogging to catch up with Clara.

"Right," Raven nodded to herself moving away from the small doors, "try to be nice! How? What do you want me to say?" She asked the machine, "I've said I'm sorry multiple times. Granted I didn't mean it," she frowned at the hum. Of course, when she had apologised she hadn't meant it, "ok," she sucked a breath, "right. One sincere apology coming up...I didn't mean to turn you into a paradox machine. In my defence, it's not much, but I had been stuck at the end of the universe after escaping the Time War. Stuck with her father who turned himself human in an act of cowardness, and hardly even saw me. I was alone and scared. And petty much just wanted him to notice me. So...he asked me to turn you into the paradox, complimenting me on my stills and I was so needy that I didn't even think twice about it. I know it was bad of me...and I am truly very sorry for hurting you that way, for my own selfish reason. I...don't expect that you'd ever forgive me but I do hope we could be civil...for the Doctor, at the very least. Ok?" She finished, frowning at the console at the silence. "Can you please open the doors?" She shook her head at the silence, moving around the console, "then lets see if we can find out why you've exterior dimensions have suddenly shrunk, shall we?"

She looked up a moment later, hearing the clicking of the doors unlocking and grinning, rushing to them only to stumble and fall in her bum from a sudden jolt. When she looked back at the doors they were only 6 inches high.

"You are kidding me..." she breathed. She honestly wasn't sure if the TARDIS was playing a prank on her or not. What with having unlocked the doors only for them the shrink seconds later, now she really couldn't get out but also no one could get in.

Great.

~.~

"Raven?" The Doctor called as the girl answered the phone a few minutes later, the man speaking on Clara's phone, "People are missing all over the estate. There could be a connection. Have you found anything?"

"And where are you?" She could hear Clara and she guessed they had arrived back where they had parked.

"Look down." She grit her teeth, putting the phone on speaker so she didn't have to wander around and get tangled by the cords.

"Oh..." she heard the Doctor breathe.

"She had just unlocked the doors for me."

"Oh, my God, that is so adorable," Clara laughed, "Are you in there?"

"No, I'm back at your flat," she replied, sarcastically.

"Oh don't get sassy with me."

"Are you ok in there?" The Doctor was more concerned on the seriousness than the adorableness.

"Just about."

"So is this more shrink ray stuff?" Clara wondered, "Are you tiny in there?"

"No, just the exterior dimensions that have shrunk." She sighed.

"But you said she unlocked the doors for you," the Doctor focused on that.

"Uh huh," she nodded moving to open the tiny doors, stepping back to see the Doctor was crouched down before them. "This isn't funny." She crossed her arms, unimpressed.

"Stop laughing." The Doctor muttered, hearing Clara laughing lightly besides him still, "This is serious. She's stuck in there!"

"Yeah, well, I can't help it, can I, look at her, with that sour scowl. How are you going to get out?"

"Well, clearly she can't. Something nearby is leeching all the external dimensions."

"Oh, great," Raven huffed.

"Aliens?" Clara asked.

"Possibly." The Doctor sighed, "Oh, who am I kidding? Probably. Sensors are down and you can't risk taking off with it in this state. Hold on, I'll pick you up, can you adjust the gravity?" He asked Raven.

"One moment," she rushed around the console doing just that, "done!" She hurried back to the doors as the Doctor stood up, the TARDIS in his hands.

"You made it lighter?" Clara blinked.

"Clara, it's always lighter." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, "If the TARDIS were to land with its true weight, it would fracture the surface of the Earth."

"Yeah, maybe a story for another time. What now?"

"We I have managed to get a rough fix on the source of the dimensional leeching." Raven told them, "about north west, that way," she poked a finger out in the general direction she found.

"Don't do that!" Clara grimaced.

"In the trunk under the console there should be an earpiece, could you get in?" The Doctor peeked at Raven.

"Oh, really?" She let out a frustrated breath, heading down and rummaging through the junk and random bits of machinery before she found the ear piece, and an identical one under it. Probably for the best.

She grabbed them both and tossed them out the doors.

"Put this in your ear," he instructed Clara, the woman doing so as he put his own in. Realising her idea. This way, instead of him just listening to her and Clara speaking, all three of them could have the same conversation.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nanotech," Raven answered, pressing a button at the console, hearing Clara wince from the feedback, "can you hear me?"

"What was that?" She demanded.

"I just hacked you optic nerve..." she brought the monitor up, seeing the mini TARDIS from Clara's eyes, "I see what you see...both of you." She added, splitting the screen in half. The left side showing Clara's point of view, the right showing the Doctors. Getting the full view of the TARDIS just from different angles.

~.~

Raven watched on the monitor as the Doctor slowly turned on the spot in the shopping precinct, pointing the sonic at a block of flats and a mural of footprints, handprints and tyre marks. Needing to scan the area so Raven could see and use the TARDIS to found anything useful.

"Found anything? I'm getting dizzy." The Doctor mumbled.

"Oh, I'll do it then," Clara huffed, snatching the sonic from the Doctors hands and completing the spin, ignoring the Doctors glare.

"Nada!" Raven called to them.

"You never did tell me your name." A young black man approached, making the Doctor groan, clearly having run into him earlier when looking around.

"I'm..." Clara flustered before smirking and flipping the sonic in her hands, "I'm the Doctor." She nodded to the actual Doctor, "this is my companion John Smith...Dr John Smith," she added as the Doctor grumbled something about her taking his job.

"Companion?" The new human frowned.

"Partner?" Clara offered, "Colleague." She finally settled on. "I'm Doctor Oswald." She grinned, "You can call me Clara."

"Oh, you are kidding me, Clara!" Raven laughed seeing the Doctor sour face.

"Don't encourage her!" He hissed.

"I'm Rigsy." The new human shook their hands in turn, oblivious to Raven in Clara's ear, "So er, what are you a doctor of?"

"Of lies." The Doctor glared.

"Well, I'm usually quite vague about that." Clara commented, "Think I just picked the title because it makes me sound important."

"Ha! I knew you were decent!" Raven grinned.

"Could we get back to work, do you think?" The Doctor continued to glare. "What are you exactly? You don't smell like police but that's some pretty cool gear you got there." Rigsy eyed the earpiece and screwdriver. "You like a spy, or something?"

"Oh, you're a bright one," the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Ignore him," Clara smiled sheepishly, "do you know anyone thing about all these missing people?"

~.~

As it turned on Rigsy did know something, at least a little, with him being from area. "He was the last one to go missing." Rigsy broke the police tape across the front door of a flat of the sat person to have gone missing, "And when he disappeared all the doors and windows were locked from the inside."

"Ooh, now you're talking." The Doctor grinned, "I love a good locked room mystery."

"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" Clara murmured slowly spinning around the room to allow Raven a good look herself.

Raven frowned at a mural of some sort on the wall behind the book case full of CDs, like a sandy, cracked bit of land. She shook her head, humans had interesting forms of art.

"Anything?" Clara asked.

"Nothing yet." She responded.

"Huh?" Rigsy spun to her.

"Oh, sorry. I'm talking to somebody else. She's listening in." She gestured to her earpiece, "Raven, Rigsy. Rigsy, Raven."

"Well I'm not going to say hello to him when he can neither see nor hear me," Raven remarked, earning a small chuckle from the Doctor.

"Oh, don't be so bitter, Raven."

"I am always bitter," she crossed her arms, even though they couldn't see.

"Missing people, tiny TARDIS, what's the link?" The Doctor shook his head, taking his sonic back and slowly increasing the settings as he wandered out, scanning anything and everything.

"I think this t' great that someone's finally looking into this." Rigsy remarked, "The police weren't doing anything. They never do on this estate. People were thinking that no one was listening. That no one cared. So, yeah. I think it's great what you're doing.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and turned to the boy, "I think that we can manage on our own from now on."

"Well, I think he could still be useful." Clara countered.

"He's a pudding brain, Clara. Worse than that, he's a fluorescent pudding brain."

"Also in the same room as you," Raven smirked seeing Rigsy looking unimpressed at being spoken to like that but not saying thing, thinking they were spy's and with their equipment they could possible kill him, or wipe his mind.

"And you know where all those missing people lived do you?" Clara huffed.

"Raven can find out in the TARDIS."

"And waste even more time," Raven rolled her eyes, "which we don't have. What if the interiors start to shrink!"

"Then...good luck, Raven."

She growled, "I love how much you care about me."

"It's as much as you care about me."

Rigsy cut her off before she could start an argument, "He could still be in the room."

"Sorry, what?" Clara turned to him at that.

"Sorry, nothing. I was just thinking out loud. It's like one of those locked room things you get in books. It's always something weird, like, he's still in the room o something.

"Raven have you picked up anything yet?" The Doctor questioned her.

"Yes the TARDIS is back to normal and just haven't told you." She scoffed.

"I can still throw you in a black hole."

"Yeah? I'll believe it when I see it."

"Do you want to go and check out another flat?" Rigsy questioned Clara, shifting away from the Doctor who seemed to be having a conversation with himself, only half said out loud.

"Do you know..."the Doctor turned to Rigsy, "I think that you were wrong about this lad, Clara. I think that he could be very useful. Vital local knowledge."

"Oh, really?" Clara scoffed.

"Right now you're the one scaring him off." Raven commented.

"Oi!"

"Ha," Clara grinned.

"Maybe he's lost in the desert, or something..." Rigsy continued.

"Are we missing something here? Missing man, locked room." Clara shook her head, the Doctor flashing the sonic on the mural on the wall, "Shrink ray?"

"Sorry, did you say just say shrink ray?" Rigsy blinked.

"What if he is still in this room like you said, only tiny? You know, like underneath the sofa or something..."

"Clara, this is the scaring off..." the Doctor remarked.

"So er, my lunch break's nearly up." Rigsy shifted to the door, "This this has been er, interesting..."

"Clara!" The Doctor shouted at her, "Local knowledge is leaving. Do something!"

"Rigsy! Doctor give me the TARDIS."

"I didn't mean that," he stepped back.

"Look, you want him to stay or not?"

"You really do throw your companions in at the deep end, don't you?" He huffed, pulling out the TARDIS from his coat pocket and handing it to Clara.

"What the hell are you doing?" Raven hissed, seeing Clara setting the tiny TARDIS on the mantelpiece.

"Raven, open the doors." The woman instructed.

"No."

"Raven!"

She huffed, moving to the doors and opening them, stepping back to see them staring back at her, "the Raven." She held a hand up for him.

"See?" Clara grinned at Rigsy as he stared at Raven, eyes wide in surprise, "tiny man idea."

"Yes, it's a lovely thought." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Which is why I set the sonic to scan for that as soon as we entered."

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Clara rounded in him.

"Well, of course he might have been squashed under a policeman's shoe by now." He continued.

"It's bigger." Rigid breathed, "On the inside."

"A statement that has never been truer." Raven drawled.

"What are you? Like, aliens...or something?"

"Clara; no. The Doctor and myself; yes."

"I thought you were John Smith." Right turned to the Doctor.

"Clara wanted to try and role reverse," he muttered, unimpressed at having gone along with it for so long.

A moment later an alarm blared, a hissing sounding from the console. "Raven..." the Doctor stepped closer to the box, seeing her running to the console at the noise.

"It's just drained a massive amount of energy from inside the TARDIS," she gasped, "whatever it is."

"We're leaving!" The Doctor determined, reaching to close the doors himself as he picked the TARDIS up and ran from the flat.

"This is where we run." Clara grinned at Rigsy, as they followed the Doctor, "Stick with me."

"This is humiliating," Raven grumbled.

"You mean because we're from the race that built the TARDIS." The Doctor sighed, "Dimensions are kind of our thing. So why can't we understand this? We need more information," he mused as they stopped outside the block of flats, "where else have people disappeared?" He turned to Rigsy.

~.~

Raven rubbed her head as she stood before the monitor, seeing from Clara eyes, the Doctor hand a young policewoman the psychic paper, "M15?" She frowned, looking at the three of them.

"Yes," Clara nodded, stepping forwards, she was the Doctor today and he was the companion, "this case has got our attention."

"Well, you've come to the right place, ma'am. First reported disappearance, a Mr Heath. It's not on the estate, but it's exactly the same MO as the rest..."

"Doc," Raven called, "your shrink ray theory...I think might be wrong." She frowned as he scanned around the room. She wasn't getting anything.

"...It's like they vanished." The police woman continued.

"Is there another mural?" Raven wondered, heading down to the under console where she knew there was an old hammer that occasionally got used in the console. And not even by her but still the TARDIS gave her a holographic projection of a Dalek chasing her down the corridors.

"What?" Clara blinked. "What do you...?"

"Oh!" The Doctors eyes widened as he caught onto her trail of thought, "Locked room mysteries." He murmured to Clara, "Classic solution number one, they're still in the room. Classic solution number two, they're in the walls." He opened his jacket feeling a nudge against his chest, finding Raven shoving a hammer out to him.

"Have we done as much as we could?" The officer was still complaining, "No. Do we have any suspects? No. Off the record, I think the top brass are hoping if they ignore this it'll all just go away..." she trailed see the Doctor holding a hammer. "Apparently they're in the walls." Clara offered, closing her eyes as the Doctor grinned like a madman and began to slash into the walls.

"PC Forrest." The woman answered her phone, "Yes, sir. MI5, sir..." she left the room to continue her conversation.

"So you and the girl in the box," Rigsy made conversation, speaking to the Doctor, "what is she to you?"

"Thank god he didn't assume daughter," Raven sighed. He was the first one not too. Even Clara had at first, granted she knew no better. What else was she to think when the madman she travelled with told her that a young girl of the same species was alive?

"She's under my care," he muttered, looking at the man, an expression that Clara couldn't quite place. Almost...impressed? Or maybe it was just because the man had actually asked about their relationship instead of just assuming as everyone did.

"You do this sort of stuff a lot?" Rigsy turned to Clara, "with them?"

"Oh, well, Ravens usually also out of the box." She waved him off, "But, yep."

"So how'd you get this gig? You study science, or aliens, or something?"

"No. Well, it's kind of a more of a right place, right time or wrong place, wrong time depending on how he's behaving."

"I'm right here!" The Doctor grumbled, rolling his eyes at Ravens remark of 'she has a point.'

Clara was cut off from responding by a scream from another room. The only other person in the flat being PC Forrest. The Doctor took off, after the scream with Clara directly behind him. "PC Forrest?" She called stepping to the room, finding the woman's torch in the middle of the room, "Hello? Hello?"

"What's that?" Raven called, catching sight of something on the wall behind the sofa.

"What?" Clara spun.

"That!" She shouted as Clara faced the wall, an odd looking red squiggly symmetrical mural. "What is that?"

"What am I missing?" The Doctor frowned as he scanned it, there was something about it, something familiar, "The TARDIS should be able to detect anything in the known universe. The known universe. This universe..." his eyes widened as he finally noticed the familiarity of the mural. Now he knew why Raven wanted to scan it. She must have noticed the familiarity of it as well, "That is a nervous system scaled up and flattened. I think we've found PC Forrest. What's left of her, at least."

"Her nervous system." Clara swallowed, disgust clear in her voice.

Raven quickly brought up the previous murals, "The mural in the flat. That wasn't a desert at all. It's a microscopic blow up of human skin."

"What?" Clara looked sick, "Why?"

"It's like they're experimenting..." Raven mused, "testing...dissecting..."

"Trying to understand us." The Doctor pondered.

"Trying to understand three dimensions...perhaps?"

Clara jumped at a disabling and hissing sound from behind as the door slammed shut, "ow!" Rigsy gaped in horror as he tried to open the door only to jump back as the handle flattened, "The handle."

"Doctor!" Clara gasped, the man flashing the sonic at them.

"Fascinating."

"Not fascinating!" Raven yelled, suddenly realising something, "they're in the walls!"

"Keep away from them!" The Doctor pulled Clara back as the sofa and cushions were flattened, "If they touch you, you're finished!"

"What happens if they touch us?" Rigsy breathed.

"By all means touch and find out," Raven encouraged bitterly.

"I thought you were trying to be nice." The Doctor reminded her.

"Trying is the key word there."

"Raven..."

But thankfully Clara cut them off, giving the man a better answer, "I really don't want to find out."

"The chair!" The Doctor called, ushering them into the swinging chair standing in the middle of the room, not touching the floor or sides as it hung by a strong chain in the middle of the room.

"They can't jump, can they?" Rigsy gasped.

"Well, maybe they can only travel on a flat surface..." Raven reasoned.

Clara groaned as he phone rang and despite the dangers surrounded them, she answered, "Hey, you." She called to Danny, trying to keep her voice clam and steady.

"Is now really the time, Clara!" Raven huffed as the woman had a conversation with her boyfriend. She wasn't particularly listening, more trying to figure out a way for them to get out, alive if at all possible.

But the Doctor did not look happy at how the woman was making up an excuse for being late to their date, for the moment not bothered about the wobbling across the floor below them.

"Can you swing the chair out the window?" Raven shouted, if the swung the chair enough they could managed to lose the chain and smash their way out of the window and into the garden outside. It was also a good enough distraction for the Doctor to not complain about Clara lying to them about Danny apparently being fine with them still travelling.

"Look! Look!" Rigsy cried, pointing, "They're climbing the walls!"

Clara swung harder as the wobbling reached the ceiling, moving to the chain securing the chair.

"Hold on" The Doctor yelled dashing the sonic at the window to smash it, just as the chair was loosened, sending them flying outside.

"You lot alright?" Raven asked after a moment, able to see from their eyes that they were, hearing a car alarm in the distance.

"Yeah, fine!" Clara responded, hanging up on her boyfriend.

"This explains everything." The Doctor muttered, walking ahead, the humans following, away from the house and the danger, "They're from a universe with only two dimensions. And, yes, that is a thing. It's long been theorised, of course, but no one could go there and prove its existence without a heck of a diet." He turned and glared at Clara, "And what long story are you going to tell Danny, huh? Or haven't you made it up yet? Excellent lying, Doctor Oswald." He clapped mockingly. Not only had she lied her Danny about what she was doing. She had lied to them. She told them Danny had been ok with her travelling with them, but it was only because he was in the dark about it.

"I thought it was pretty weak myself." She remarked.

"Pretty sure he meant about your lies to us," Raven corrected as the Doctor sulked off ahead. "You said Danny was ok with you still travelling with us."

"Well, he is." She defended.

"Because he doesn't know."

"Congratulations." The Doctor called back, "Lying is a vital survival skill."

"Well, there you go."

"And a terrible habit."

Clara winced, hearing static, "ow. Doctor I think it's damaged."

He rolled his eyes, walking back to her having felt the same thing, quickly flashing the sonic on it, "blowing out that window's affected the earpiece. Just a bit of feedback."

"Hey!" Rigsy cried as they reached the underpass, seeing the other public service people scrubbing away the graffiti of those recorded as missing, "They can't do that. Hey! What you doing?"

"Our job." A bitter old man, sneered at him, "You're on report, by the way. Late back from lunch."

"Doctor..." Raven began, seeing the murals in their eye sights, seeing both sides.

"Yeah..." he agreed quietly, "Clara! The missing people are in the walls!"

She stared in horror, stepping away from the wall, to the middle of the path, noticing the public service lot still scrubbing away, "What do we do?"

"Act normal, but get everyone out." He stepped back, gesturing her to speak and get everyone out.

"Why me?"

"You wanted to be the Doctor."

"Must we do this now?" Raven huffed, "this is irritating."

"A bit like you and him taking shot at each other any chance you get." Clara shot back.

"Ooh, touché." She smirked, "you are very decent, Clara."

"Thanks," she breathed, before speaking to the workers in the underpass, needing to get them out, "They're very realistic." She jerked her head to the graffiti, "Who painted them?"

"I don't know." Rigsy shrugged, "local artist. Probably a grieving relative."

"Did you ever meet them? Or did they just appear after people disappeared?" "And who are you when you're at home, love?" The older man sneered at her.

The Doctor held out the psychic paper, "Health and safety. This subway is unsafe. Everyone needs to leave right now!"

"This is blank. Try again, mate."

"What?" He blinked, no, it wasn't.

"You are kidding!" Raven laughed in the Doctors ear, "oh god, only geniuses or those with no imagination can see the paper blank."

"Stan." The no imagination man turned to another, "Do your job."

"No don't!" The Doctor yelled but was too late, Stans brush came in contact with the wall and he was sucked in with a cry.

"What is this?" Another man cried, as the paintings turned to face forwards having been only showing their backs before, "What are they?"

"They're wearing the dead like camouflage." The Doctor murmured.

"Forget Stan." Clara turned to the other humans, "Your friend's gone."

"We need to move." The Doctor agreed, "Now!"

Raven watched the Doctor pulled Clara off, the humans following, glancing back to see the painting sliding of the wall and following along the tarmac as the group ran into a nearby train shed.

"Did they follow us?" A man panted from the run, "Cos I didn't see them follow us. Are we safe?"

"Doctor?" Clara looked at him for that.

"Are we really hiding from killer graffiti?" The first man scoffed, "This is insane!"

"Killer graffiti!" Raven scoffed, "stupid name!"

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "we need a better name than that."

"And Stan was one of them!" The second man cried, "Flattened, dead, but coming after us..."

"You wanted to be me..." the Doctor murmured to Clara quietly, "so take change of them."

"Gotcha." She nodded, "George." She faced the second man, knowing his name either from recalling someone having said it earlier or able to see his nametag, "George, isn't it? Can you watch that area?" She asked him, "If you hear anything, anything moves, you shout, ok?"

"He will do no such thing until I get some answers!" The old man snapped. "Who are you two? That's what I want to know. Impersonating a government official. Trespassing on council property."

"Seriously?" Clara scoffed. She could see why Raven called them stupid apes. He was getting on her nerves.

"Seriously." He nodded.

"Fine," she moved and got closer in his face, her voice low with a threatening tone, "I'll tell you who I am. I am the one chance you've got of staying alive. That's who I am."

"You should do the threats more often Clara!" Raven grinned, "so sexy!"

"Thanks," she winked at the Doctor, knowing that Raven would be able to see it through is eyes.

"Not everything is sexy, Raven!" The Doctor hissed.

"Everything is sexy if you try hard enough."

"Raven!" He didn't even care as the humans looked at him oddly for the shout.

"Rigsy," Clara shook her head at their conversation or banter, whatever they called it, "how well do you know this area? Do you know where that door leads?" She nodded to the door behind them.

"It's the old Brunswick line." He told her, "But it's not safe."

"Well, there's safe and there's safe." The first man mumbled. Either an old train line or those walking paintings.

"Yeah, I know it." Right nodded, "I used to go down there all the time."

"Yeah, I'll bet you did." The old man scoffed, "Painting your filth."

"Yeah, well, you might be glad he did." Clara glared at him, "Those things come in here that is our only way out." She turned to the Doctor, whispering, "can we save them all?"

"Welcome to my world." He grumbled, "So what's next, Doctor Oswald?"

"Lie to them." She stated.

"What?" The Doctor blinked.

"Lie to them. Give them hope. Tell them they're all going to be fine. Isn't that what you would do?"

"Ooh, harsh, Clara." Raven called.

"Are you actually planning to help at all or just adding sarcastic comments."

"I'm stuck in the TARDIS," she deadpanned, "with little much else to do. So…"

"Were working on it," the Doctor insisted.

"If people dawdle they'll end up dead." Clara added.

"Oh Doctor Oswald I'll make a Time Lady of you yet." Raven commented.

"So that's what I sound like." The Doctor murmured, looking away at that. Raven had once admitted that she saw the Master in him, maybe she had been right. Maybe they weren't so different after all.

"Who are they talking to?" The old man scoffed.

"Right here's something," Raven called, at least even trapped in the TARDIS, the scanner and monitor was at least working for addition information, "Remember the graffiti from the estate?" She brought the image up on the screen, "Footprints, tyre treads?"

"Vaguely." Clara nodded.

"It's how they saw us."

"How do you know that?" Clara frowned.

"Lucky guess," she shrugged, "The impressions we make in 2 dimensional space. That was them reaching out, attempting to talk before they moved into flattening and dissection. Trying to understand? Trying to emulate?"

"Big question;" the Doctor followed her trail of thought, "Do they know they're hurting us?"

"So what?" Clara shook her head. "You think this is all one big misunderstanding?"

"That's a very good question. Why don't we ask them?" He suggested moving to the tannoy speakers and grabbing the nearby ladder, flashing the sonic at them, "We need to find a way to communicate."

"Can't the TARDIS translate it?"

"She is utterly confused," Raven sighed, "their language is as bonkers as their idea of space."

"This is a bad idea," the grumpy old man complained, "What makes this colleague of yours think those monsters even want to talk?"

"I know a race made of sentient gas who throw fireballs as a friendly wave." The Doctor explained, "know another race with 64 stomachs who talk to each other by disembowelling."

"He's got a hunch." Clara simplified.

"My point being that in a universe as immense and bizarre as this one, you being be too quick to judge. Perhaps these creatures don't even understand that we need three dimensions to live in. They may not even know that they're hurting us."

"You believe that?" Raven blinked.

"No." He admitted, "I really hope that. It would make a nice change, wouldn't it?" He smiled, stepping down. "Raven?"

"Yup, ready and waiting to translate, sir!" She mockingly saluted, grinning knowing he couldn't see.

"Don't salute!" He whined.

She dropped her arm, pouting, "Every time."

"Let's start with pi." He continued, "Even in a flat world they would have circles. I don't mean edible pie," he added to Clara, "I mean circular pi. Which I realise would also mean edible pie but anyway..."

"They're responding." Raven called loudly, cutting him off as she tried to translate from the console, a high pitch noise sounding as the TARDIS managed to complete the translation, "translating now...55." She frowned.

"55?" Clara frowned, "What does that mean?"

"10th Fibonacci number." The Doctor shook his head, "Atomic number of caesium."

"I know what it means." Rigsy cut in, quietly, tugging on his own jacket, "We all have numbers on our jackets. Have to sign them out. That was the number on Stan's jacket, the man they flattened in the subway..."

"They're gloating." The old man hissed.

"We don't know that." The Doctor shook his head.

"It could be an apology, for all we know?" Clara offered.

"Really?" The first man muttered, "That's nice of them."

"An apology?" The old man scoffed, "Are you seriously..." he was cut off by the same high pitch sounded.

"Raven...?" The Doctor called.

"22." She swallowed, having seen the number of the lookout man, George's, jacket.

"22." The Doctor repeated aloud for the group.

"That's George!" Rigsy gasped.

"Looks like your number's up, George." The old man sneered over to where the man stood, "Now they're threatening."

"Maybe." Clara admitted, "Or maybe they're showing us they can read."

"Oh, grow up. They're picking targets."

"Of course you'd see it that way!" Rigsy defended Clara.

"What do you mean by that?" The man narrowed eyes.

"Doctor..." Raven breathed, seeing him staring at George, the man standing still, hardly noticing them talking about it.

"I know..."

The man hadn't spoken at all since he walked off.

"Everyone's out to get you, aren't they?" Rigsy glared.

"In this case, they kind of are." The old man agreed.

"How about instead of arguing you run!" Raven snapped, moving to the under console and rummaging through the junk trunk.

"Look at him," the Doctor nodded to George, seeing he was flat and 2D, all of them now seeing that before he dissolved into the floor.

"The tunnel!" Clara called, she and the Doctor rushing down first, the remaining humans got on their tails, "What now?"

"Raven?" The Doctor asked.

"A moment!" She called, setting a pair of goggles over her head and starting up a blow torch.

"Raven!" Clara cried.

"Yes!" She snapped, rushing back up with a small device, glancing at the monitor too see they had stopped at the locked door, the handle in 2D.

"Another flat handle. They were here. Not now. They've stopped chasing us, I think. It feels like they're cornering us."

"You can't apply human logic." The Doctor shook his head, bashing his sonic seeing it not working on the door. He made a mental note to try and make a 2D-3D setting, "we're dealing with creatures from another dimension."

"That's three exits all blocked by those creatures." The first man gasped.

"Rigsy, where's the next exit?" Clara turned to him.

"The only other one I can think of is where the old line joins the new, but it's a fair walk." Rigsy told her, "Getting through that door would be quicker."

"But we can't, can we?" The old man sneered.

"I'm just saying…"

"I suppose it lucky I'm stuck in here," Raven mused, finish the hand held device, "if I was out there, he'd be dead."

"Raven..." he began, warningly.

"Lucky I'm stuck in here, isn't it? 5 minutes and I might have something to get that door open."

"What are you doing?" Clara frowned.

"Something clever."

"Ok!" Raven announced 5 minutes later, rushing to the doors and poking her fingers out, jabbing the Doctor in the sides to get his attention. "If it works and I'm really hoping it does otherwise I'm not as clever as I thought but! Hopefully this will be able to restore the 3 dimension on the door handle and other small stuff."

"That's brilliant!" The Doctor admitted, taking the device she handed him, it looked like an old calculator with a ball on top, along with a small satellite.

"Why can't you do things like that?" Clara nudged him.

He rolled his eyes, "have you named it?"

"I thought I'd give you the chance to give it a ridiculous name." Raven remarked.

"2DIS." He stated, nodding firmly at the name.

"Regretting that already..." Raven rolled his eyes as he aimed the device at the flat wheel, a green pulsing out, the handle slowly becoming 3D again.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor cheered, kissing the device.

"I know."

"Arrogant too." Clara added.

"Al!" Rigsy suddenly cried making them look just in time to see the man grabbed by the giant hand and pulling him back with a scream.

"Next stage…" Raven murmured, "3D."

The Doctor shoved the door, open, ushering them all in, slamming it behind them, spinning the wheel to lock it.

"It can reverse the process!" Raven shouted.

"There's a ladder at the end of this." Rigsy explained, "If we get down into the tunnel, we can make it into daylight."

"Hang on!" Clara waved him off as the Doctor clicked the 2DIS on the handle again, the wheel turning 2 dimensional again.

"Raven have I ever told you how brilliant you are?" the Doctor asked her.

"You are so welcome." She grinned at him, bowing mockingly even though he couldn't see her.

"If it's flat, we're safe now, aren't we?" the old man asked.

"They can't get through, can they?" Rigsy turned to Clara.

"Wait…" Clara murmured, watching the wheel, hearing a crackling on the other side.

"Let's not!" the Doctor took her hand and they ran off again, just as the handle turned 3D again.

"So…now they can also restore dimensions." Raven sighed, wandering around the console in boredom. "Well, I think I might have a way to send them back to their dimension."

"And the bad news?" the Doctor groaned, recognising the tone, as they ran.

"Not enough dimension energy."

"Great." Clara huffed bitterly, "What do you want us to do about it?"

"Apparently these things can pump it out as fast as they can steal it."

"Maybe if I ask them really nicely, they'll fill you up again."

"Oh don't get sassy with me, ape."

"Give me that machine!" the old man demanded, rummaging through the Doctors pockets from the 2DIS pulling out the TARDIS.

"Hands of my TARDIS!" The man yelled, snatching it back, the two man fighting for it. Rigsy rushed to intercept…

And the next thing Raven knew she was watching the same image from both halves of the monitor, the TARDIS falling over the railing into the darkness.

"RAVEN!" The Doctor yelled, as the TARDIS shook, alarms blaring.

"Oh my god!" Clara gasped, "Raven…where are you?"

"Er…" she tried to get the monitor working as it went blank upon impact…nothing. "I have no idea…" she admitted, "Shields have gone." She sighed, "Structural integrity is failing." She swallowed hard as realisation dawned on her "Another blow like that and I've had it…" she moved to the doors to get her bearings, "train lines…" she let out a long breath at her bad luck, "of course." She rolled her eyes hearing a train horn, "…and a trains coming." She moved back to the console, slamming the doors in frustration, "can't teleport cos there's not enough power…can't re-route the heart of the TARDIS, not enough power…I'm screwed!"

"Can't you move the TARDIS?" Clara inquired.

"That not even enough power to boil an egg!" she snapped, frustrated. All she had done was try to apologise sincerely to the TARDIS, and now she was going to die inside. Alone.

"No, I mean you move the TARDIS." Clara continued, not faltering from the snap, "Like Addams Family?"

She blinked, "like…stick my hand out and try to crawl away?"

"Exactly!"

She bolted to the doors, it was worth a shot and stuck her hand out, using her fingers to drag the box along the surface, and the train tracks were on the concrete slabs on the tracks, so the train wouldn't be able to just pass over. She pulled the box pass the tracks, clearing them completely.

"It worked!" she cheered, moving back to the console.

"There we go!" she could feel the Doctor grinning, unable to see with no power. The monitor was off.

Only for the vibrations of the train to knock the box back onto the track…too close for her to be able to move back again.

She screamed, ducking under the console, pulling a lever out of sheer fear, filling the room in a bright light, forcing her to tightly close her eyes to avoid being blinded before it dimmed, the room darkening. The computer off completely, console dead. The only light coming from the rotor, even communication and cut off.

A last act of panic causing her to put the TARDIS in siege mode. But now the only oxygen and heat was what was left in the room. Unable to open the doors. A chill already creeping in…

"I'm sorry, Doctor." She called unsure

~.~

if they could hear her, despite she couldn't hear them, "I put the TARDIS in siege mode…just before the train hit. And guess what?" she laughed bitterly, "no power to turn it off. I really am trapped now…"

The only positive she could think was that at least neither of them could see the tears in her eyes…

"Come on…!" Raven pleaded, tapping the side of the monitor, getting a second glimpse of Clara's sight, looking down at a spray can, before it went back again, "Please!"

Raven curled up in her arm chair, her coat pulled up to her chin, covered by as many blankets she had found in the under console, unable to leave the room with the TARDIS in siege mode. The heat was fading very quickly, leaving her shivering even with Time Lord Biology able to withstand extreme temperatures. The oxygen thinning, thankfully slower that the heat. But still dangerously low.

She would never admit it out loud, probably didn't need too as everyone could probably see, but she was absolutely scared to death of dying.

Oh the irony!

She'd do anything to survive for as long as possible.

Like stealing the last TARDIS and turning it into a paradox machine and destroying Earth. The destroying Earth part probably wasn't necessary. And thinking more on it, if she had just spoken to the Doctor at the end of the universe, admit and explain that she was alive and her father had turned himself human in an act of cowardly (she knew she got that from him). They could have gone travelling together, fine and happy. They didn't need to enslave the human race, and her father would still have been alive.

"I'm sorry, Doctor…" she breathed, resting her head on the arm, closing her eyes. Sleeping would mean less oxygen was wasted. She'd last longer, giving them more time to save her.

If they even could…

She snapped her eyes open with a sharp inhale, the air returning and heat rising as the lights brightened, the power returning.

"Ha! Yes!" she cheered, untangling herself from the blankets and rushing down the o console, jumping the last few steps, pushing button after button, the TARDIS resizing to its true height, the monitor switching back on showing that outside seeing the creatures outside, she pulled a lever, turning the force field on, sending the creatures, that looked like the graffiti people struggling to keep themselves together, further away, hearing the Doctor speaking.

"I tried to talk." The man called standing before them, him and the humans in the force field, "I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you, but I think that you understand us perfectly. And I think you just don't care. And I don't know whether you are here to invade, infiltrate or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now. You are monsters. That is the role you seem determined to play. So it seems I must play mine." Raven stepped out of the TARDIS, seeing the Doctor glaring at the creatures, the sonic ready, the humans to the side, Clara, Rigsy, the old man and someone new, "The man that stops the monsters. I'm sending you back to your own dimension. Who knows? Some of you may even survive the trip. And, if you do, remember this. You are not welcome here. This plane is protected. I am the Doctor. And I name you The Boneless!" he flashed the sonic at the force field, the energy disintegrating them with a squeal.

He waited a moment longer, ensure they were all gone before flipping the sonic and putting it away. He turned to Raven, "you alright?"

~.~

Raven smirked as they stepped out of the TARDIS, back in the train yard the TARDIS had first materialised in, watching the stray human Clara picked up, a train driver, drop to his knees and kiss the ground. Humans were so funny. Rigsy walked off a moment later, to make a call home, the old man still sneering at everyone.

"You all right?" Clara smiled at the driver, amused.

"I'm alive," he laughed, nodding to the TARDIS, "and I've been inside that. I think I'm up on the deal. Come here." He pulled her into a hug, "Thank you." He added to the Time Lords, the Doctor giving him a nod from besides Raven. The girl having no idea where he came from, "You look chipper." He added to the grumpy old man before walking off, a skip in his step.

"Do people still say chipper?" Clara wondered.

"Apparently." The Doctor eyed him, almost amused, "Are you ok?"

"I'm alive." She nodded.

"And a lot of people died."

"How did you do it?" Raven frowned at the Doctor.

"…it was Clara, actually." He admitted, begrudgingly making her turn to the human in surprise.

"Oh, don't look too shocked." She rolled her eyes, playfully.

"It's like a forest fire, though, isn't it?" the old man walked over, "The objective is to save the great trees, not the brushwood. Am I right?"

"It wasn't a fire, those weren't trees, those were people." The Doctor glared.

"They were Community Payback scumbags, I wouldn't lose any sleep."

"I bet you wouldn't." Raven mumbled.

"It's good to be alive though. Thank you. Seriously, thank you." And with that he walked off.

Raven stared after him fisted clenched. She would have gone after him, torn his eyes out with her bare hands, but the Doctor place a hand gently on her shoulder, "sometimes the wrong people survive…" she offered instead of killing him.

"Yeah, but we saved the world, right?" Clara smiled.

"We did." The Doctor nodded to her, "You did." She had come up with the plan that saved the TARDIS and returned it power. He had disagreed with her plan, gone to sulk in the corner, worried for Raven.

"Ok, so, on balance…"

"Balance?"

"Yeah, that's how you think, isn't it?"

"Largely so other people don't have to."

"Yeah, well, I was you today." She grinned, "I was the Doctor. And, you were my companion. How do you think I did?"

"Thank you." Raven offered her. "if not for you, I'd be dead…"

"Ah! The return of the fluorescent pudding brain." The Doctor greeted as Rigsy came back over, finishing call, "Your last painting was so good it saved the world. I can't wait to see what you do next."

"It's not going to be easy." He chuckled lightly, "I've got a hair band to live up to. Thanks." He shook the Doctors hand and Ravens before Clara pulled him into a hug before he too headed off.

"Admit it!" she grinned up at the Doctor, "I did well." She glanced at her phone as it rang.

"Boyfriend?" Raven guessed, the woman cancelling the call.

"Just say it. Why can't you just say it? Why can't you just say I did good? I was the Doctor and I was good."

"You were an exceptional Doctor, Clara." The man rolled his eyes, heading inside the TARDIS, not wanting to see her smug face.

The woman beamed turning to Raven as she leaned against the TARDIS, "you alright?"

"I would have died, if not for you." She remarked.

"Stating the obvious." She laughed.

"I never thought I'd have to be saved by a human."

"What about River?" she asked, now noticing this wasn't just Raven thanking her. This was…something else. That she didn't quite know what. She blinked as Raven wrapped her arms around her in a hug, "ok…I may just try to save your life more often if you're going to be nice and affectionate."

Raven pulled back, smiling softly, "I'll try not to make a habit of it." She smirked playfully, linking her arms and walking with Clara inside.

Glancing back outside as she shut the doors, seeing a raven flying up ahead.

She smiled.


	13. In the forest of the night

Raven smirked, leaning back in her chair as she sat opposite the Doctor, both sat before the small table they moved into the console room, a game of chess halfway through.

The Doctor frowned in concentration, glancing between the board and Ravens smirk, really not liking that. She knew his best next move, and he hated that.

"I think I might die of old age before you make your move, Doc."

He didn't say anything, simply glared over at her before taking his turn.

She raised her eyebrows at him, the Doctor looked down at his move and realised his mistake.

A sudden knocking at the door held Raven back from her move.

"Surely that's not Clara." The Doctor murmured, glancing at his watch. It was far too early. But still he stood up to see who it was. "Don't make your move until I'm back."

Raven rolled her eyes, scowled, crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, very irritated that someone would dare disturb their chess game. It couldn't be Clara, it better not be, but the woman had her own key and tended to usually barge in anyway.

The Doctor opened the doors looking out into the forest noticing a small girl with dark hair in the Coal Hill school uniform.

"I'm lost." The girl gasped, "Please, can you help me?"

"It's that way." The Doctor pointed in a random direction, before closing the doors again.

"Don't you usually say yes to helping people?" Raven called, "especially kids?"

"We're in the middle of a game." He defended but opened the doors again, only to blink at the greenery behind the girl. "Are those trees?"

"I need the Doctor." The girl continued, "Are you the Doctor?"

"Yes. Do you have an appointment? You need an appointment to see the Doctor."

"Please. Something's chasing me."

He moved aside to let her in at that, the girl rushing in, gasping at the sight.

"When you drink a glass of Coke," he began to explain to her, gesturing with his hands, "it's only this big, but it's actually got this much sugar in it. It works a bit like that."

"What does?" the girl blinked at him.

"The TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than the outside, or did you not notice?"

"I just thought it was supposed to be bigger on the inside," she shrugged, "so I didn't say anything."

"Well it is bigger on the inside," Raven agreed, "that was just his lame way of trying to explain it."

"Oi!"

"What's your name?"

"Maebh."

"Maebh" she nodded, "I'm the Raven, the big idiots the Doctor," she ignored his huff and sulk, "how did you know where we were…?"

"I didn't." the girl sighed, "I'm was in the woods and I thought Miss Oswald told me to find the Doctor. But it wasn't her. It was just in my head…"

"Clara?" Raven frowned, "Clara Oswald?"

"Dark hair?" the Doctor added in case the girl didn't know her teachers first name, "Highly unpredictable? Surprisingly round face?"

Maebth nodded, "Everyone says she's in love with Mr Pink. I really like him. I was in his group."

"Mr Pink was looking after you?" the Doctor very nearly rolled his eyes, "Well, that explains why you're lost."

"I'll call Clara." Raven offered, moving round to the phone to tell the woman they had one of her students randomly turn up at the doors.

"It doesn't surprise you that I know all about your school?" the Doctor asked Maebh.

"Everyone seems to know everything about everything," she shrugged, "apart from me."

"That's not quite true." The Doctors shook his head, "I, for instance, have no idea why, when the terrestrial navigation," he slapped the girls curious hand away as she reached for a control, "The terrestrial navigation starts up, it closes down all the other systems."

"You should ask somebody who knows."

"Hmm. I did, even Raven's confused."

"No, it's just unfixable!" she corrected from the other side of the console.

The Doctor crouched before the girl, whispering, "she's too stubborn to admit it."

"I'm stubborn!?" she scoffed, "have you ever actually heard yourself talk?" she looked at him, "still…he's broken the box so much that we can't even land where we were supposed."

He had to agree with that, "We're supposed to be in the middle of London."

"But we are in the middle of London." The girl called.

"We are in the middle of a forest." He corrected.

"Come and see." Maebh took his hand and led him outside as Raven finally connected to Clara's phone. She could see on the monitor now she switched it on, they really were in the middle of London. Nelson column standing amongst the trees.

"Clara!" she greeted as the woman picked up.

"No, no, no!" the woman cut her off, "You're always showing me amazing things. Well, I, have finally got something amazing to show you…"

"Yeah, whatever…how about you collect your child first?"

"Child? What…what child?"

"We found a young girl, Maebh, in Coal Hill uniform, apparently Mr Pink had been looking after her."

"What? Maebh? Where are you?"

"Trafalgar Square." She answered, "she came running to the TARDIS though the brand new forest."

"Brand new forest?"

"The forest that now seems to be covering, London, yes." She smirked at the silence on the other side, "did this forest happened to be the 'something amazing' you had to show us?"

"That's just not fair." The woman muttered, "Look, is Maebh alright? Will you bring her over?"

"Or you could come to use seeing how the trees are affecting navigation."

Clara groaned, "fine. We're on our way." And hung up, leaving the Time Lords babysitting for a few more minutes.

~.~

Raven peeked over Maebh's shoulder as they stood outside of the TARDIS, waiting for Clara to come and collect the girl, the Doctor standing on the bronze lion's plinth, Raven on the ground, leaning against it besides Maebh, the girl on her phone, listening to the news report.

"The Government emergency committee, COBRA, has formulated an action plan. We will create pathways through the trees using carefully controlled fires. This will facilitate the movement of essential services. We are therefore asking you to stay in your homes. Fill your baths, sinks, and any buckets with fresh water."

"Any readings?" Raven called up as the Doctor scanned around the wooden trees with the screwdriver.

"Why would there be no reading?" he huffed, "Because they are actually made of wood. No circuits. No mechanism. Wood." He jumped down onto the ground, "any luck with a wood setting?"

"I'm further than you are."

"What's this for?" Maebh nodded, putting her phone in her pocket.

"This is a sonic screwdriver. It interacts with any form of communication you care to mention. Sadly, trees have no moving parts and don't communicate."

"They communicate a bit, though." She argued, making them both look at her, "Otherwise they wouldn't all grow at the same time, would they?"

"So, what, do you think that's how spring begins?" he raised an eyebrow at her, "With a group message on Tree Facebook? Do you think they send texts to each other?"

"You don't need a phone to communicate, do you? I haven't phoned home, and I know my mum is worried about me."

"I see where you're coming from." Raven admitted slowly.

"You do?" the Doctor looked at her.

"Yeah, I always know when you've got all angry Scotsman."

He rolled his eyes at then only to hear a snap from a tree branch and a girl crying out, making them hurry back to the TARDIS, seeing a girl in Coal Hill uniform showing the branch to Danny.

"Look, sir. No rings. Trees usually have rings to tell you how old they are. This one's got no rings. Why's that then, sir?"

"The rings mark the years of growth." The Doctor called, stepping into the groups view, "One ring for each year. This grew up overnight. That whole tree is the result of just one night's growth, and they're still growing."

"Everyone, this is the Doctor," Clara introduced, "and the Raven. They're going to sort everything out. Isn't that right?"

"Well…" Raven shrugged.

"They're really clever." Clara whispered to the class.

"Oh, yes, I am." The Doctor agreed, "Very clever. But what use is clever against trees? They don't listen to reason. You can't plead with them. You can't lie to them. They have no moving parts, no circuits. This is a natural event."

"How can it be natural for a tree to grow in one night?" Danny scoffed at that.

"Exactly what they said about the Ice Age. How can whole glaciers just pop up out of nowhere? Well, they just did. That's how this planet grows - a series of catastrophes. Farewell to the Ice Age. Welcome to the Tree Age. Possibly. When the Ice Age was here, you lot managed to cook mammoth. Now there's a forest, you'll just have to eat nuts."

"I can't eat nuts." One boy called, "I've got an allergy."

"Go and hunt birds and squirrels then." Raven shrugged.

"Don't worry." Clara told the class, "It's a thing he does. He pretends he's not interested and then he has an idea. He's playing for time."

"Time…." The Doctor murmured, "Interesting."

"See? Clever kicking in."

"A tree is a time machine. You plant a little acorn in 1795, and in the year 2016, there's an oak tree, there, in the same spot, with a tiny little bit of 1795 still alive inside of it. You can't create an overnight forest with extra special fertiliser. You have to mess with the fabric of time. And communicate with trees."

He grinned, running into the TARDIS, Raven rolling her eyes as she followed.

"So you're saying it's an act of aggression?" Clara asked as she ushered the children inside, Danny following last, almost hesitant.

"By trees?" Raven raised an eyebrows.

"Er, trees clean the air." The tree girl called.

"Exactly." Clara nodded, "Well done, Ruby. Someone or something who's trying to scrub the atmosphere before colonising or invading. Ah, yes. This is Coal Hill Year Eight Gifted and Talented Group." She explained.

"What are the round bits for?" one kid called, pointing at the roundels on the walls.

"Ask your teacher." The Doctor waved his question off,

"Oh, come on!" Raven moaned as the children raced around the room, some running to explore the upper gallery, a few trying to press some buttons on the console, "Get down!"

"Hey! Away from the console!" the Doctor huffed, ushering those gathered around away, "Come on. That's an antique. Get away from there! Don't touch that! Haven't any of you been struck by the fact that it's, look, it's bigger on the inside?"

Raven snorted, he really did have a thing about people asking about that.

"There wasn't a forest." The tree girl shrugged, "Then there was a forest. Nothing surprises us anymore."

He glanced at Raven at that, seeing her almost amused by the girls reasoning, well, that was certainly something new, "These trees all appeared at once." He spun back to the children, "That wasn't a coincidence. There's no such thing as an arboreal coincidence. Something, someone has coordinated this. To coordinate, you need to communicate. Every communication channel on the TARDIS is open, and nothing…" he spun to Clara only to notice Danny by the school books Clara had left behind last time, a book open showing a drawing of the sun zapping energy at the greens, "Except…" he snatched the book from Danny's hands, "Let me see that."

"Homework books." Danny frowned, "Why are these here?"

"Maebh Arden." He read the name on the front of the book.

Raven frowned, glancing at the kids, not recognising the young girl, "where…is Maebh?"

"Maebh Arden?" the Doctor spun to the children, looking for the girl, "which is Maebh?"

"Oh, my God!" Tree girl cried, "Maebh's gone. Maebh's lost in the forest. Maebh's going to die!"

"Ruby, that's enough!" Clara told her, using her stern teaching voice, "Doctor?"

"We've got to find her!" the Doctor determined.

"Yes, I know that we have to find her. Doctor, listen to me. Her sister went missing last year. She's on medication. The child is barely functioning. She hears voices. She's very vulnerable."

"What do the voices say?" Raven spun to her at that.

"I don't know." She shook her head, not seeing what the big deal was, it wasn't like the voices were actually there, "She takes tablets and they stop."

Raven swallowed, she and the Doctor sharing a glance at that. Recalling someone else who heard a noise in their head that no one else could, and just what that had meant.

"Raven…" the Doctor called gently, taking her hand in his, seeing her doing the four beat tapping against the console. Sometimes it came back, having heard the Master do it so often sometimes it became a habit too her, usually only when it was mentioned.

She quickly moved her hands into her pockets, seeing his sympathetic face. "humans." She shook her head.

"You never learn." The Doctor agreed.

"What was that?" Clara asked, nodding to Raven. The four beat tapping she had just done at the mention of voices in heads.

They both ignored her, the Doctor continuing, "If a child is speaking, listen to it."

"Oh, like you listened to her?" Danny challenged.

The Doctor ignored him, turning to the scanner, unable to track her down with the tree interfering, "He's right." He sighed, "She was trying to tell me something and I ignored her. Maebh Arden is tuned to a different channel. She can lead us to the source, to the heart of the forest. We have to listen to her. We have to find her."

"Not everything can be fixed with a screwdriver." Clara argued, "It's not a magic wand."

"Have you got her phone number?" Raven asked her, recalling the girl having a pink phone. And if she was on medication she probably had it, especially on a school trip.

"Er, yep." She pulled out her phone, Raven snatching it, and flashing her sonic at it, tracking the girls phone.

"500 yards south east of here." She tossed the phone back to Clara, able to continue tracking Maebh's phone with her sonic, "I'll go get her."

"I'll go get her." the Doctor corrected.

"You?" she scoffed, "you rely on your sonic too much. What if she tosses her phone?"

"I'll go with them." Danny offered, unsure which of them would be going if they were arguing about the Doctor going instead of Raven, he could guess they'd both go.

"Oh, I can go." Clara shook her head, "You can…"

"You haven't seen him for months?" he faced her.

Raven pulled a face behind the humans backs. She never did understand relationships and love. It wasn't her sort of thing. She'd been in an arranged marriage but of course the war had come and so that was cut off. And so she never had done any of the romantic love. Platonic, of course. She loved her family. But she was pretty certain you didn't lie to your partners. Seeing how Danny didn't know Clara was still travelling with them, the woman still hadn't told him.

"Hey!" the Doctor shouted as one of the girls, Ruby, was reaching for a lever, "Do not. Touch. Anything. Anything. Ok?"

"Ok." The girl frowned.

~.~

Raven shoved her hands in her pockets as she, the Doctor and Clara walked through the trees, tracking Maebh. They had left Danny in the TARDIS, keeping an eye on the kids. The man swearing that he wouldn't let them touch the console. It seemed he wasn't too keen being in the alien box and didn't want a kid to touch the console as much as they did. They were more concerned about the kids breaking something, while he seemed more concerned that they could end up stranded on an alien planet.

"Gifted and talented?" Raven raised an eyebrow at Clara.

"Furious, fearful, tongue-tied." Clara sighed, "They're all superpowers if you use them properly." She glanced at them, more the Doctor, "Are they going to be all right?"

"They're in the TARDIS," He waved her off, "the safest place on the planet." He trailed at the small rumble, only to see the Nelson column falling towards them.

"Look out!" Raven shouted, Clara diving one way, the Time Lords taking the other side, covering their faces as the statue smashed to the ground. "if this is an invasion…" she began.

"What?" Clara glanced over.

"Well, they're already here."

"What do they want?" the Doctor shook his head.

"Doctor?" Clara called as she glanced back at the way they came, "Look behind us. The path we just walked down. It's overgrown already."

They frowned, seeing that it now looked like the trees and vines had always been there, no sign that only mere moments ago there had been a clear path.

"Maebh's phone," Raven murmured, noticing the pick phone on the ground, the sonic signalling that it had been nearby

"Why would she put her phone down?" Clara breathed fearing the worst.

"Doesn't want to be followed?" the Doctor frowned,

"Lost hold of it in a struggle?" Raven suggested, "Left it as a clue, so we would know where she was going?"

"Trail of breadcrumbs. Hansel and Gretel."

"I'm actually frightened." Clara admitted, "I never get frightened. Why am I frightened?"

"You just lost a little girl." The Doctor remarked.

"Yes, that is a worry, but I know you'll find her. No, no, no. This is not a worry, this is a dread. Maebh!" she shouted, looking for the girl.

"You're pursuing a little lost girl through a mysterious forest. The path has disappeared. You're only companions are a rude old man and a bitter bird. Maebh!"

"Any minute now we're going to find a gingerbread cottage with a cannibal witch inside." Clara muttered, "Maebh!"

"Exactly." The Doctor agreed, "The forest. It's in all the stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare."

Raven kept her eyes to the ground as they walked, looking to see if Maebh dropped anything else, coming across a red pencil case, "is this hers?"

"Yes." Clara nodded, coming to a halt as a man in a hazmat suit moved before her.

"Get back!" he yelled at them, "We're burning here. Stay back."

"We're looking for a little girl…" Clara began.

"Stay back. We're about to burn."

The trio stepped back as others joined the man, aiming a flame thrower at the trees, engulfing them with the flames, but as soon as they turned it off the fires burnt out as though never touching the leaves in the first place.

The men grumbled, checking their equipment.

"Trees control the oxygen on this planet." The Doctor mumbled as they walked on, "They withhold it, they smother the fire. What sort of forest is clever? What sort of forest has its own in-built fire extinguisher?"

"What do they want?"

"Why now?" Raven wondered.

"What do you mean, why now?"

"Well, why had the whole natural order just random now turned against the planet?"

After everything in history the humans have done to the nature of this planet, cutting down the forests, stomping on the flowers, why just now has it come to get its own back? There must be a reason.

"Well, what else?"

The Doctor pulled out Maebh's book from his pocket, showing Clara the drawing she had done, "How did she know this?"

"What is it?" She asked.

"This is a massive solar flare headed for Earth, like the one that destroyed the Bank of Karabraxos. I've got an entire TARDIS and I didn't notice this. But she knew. How?"

"This is Maebh's." Clara noted, "Where did you get this?"

"You left your marking in the TARDIS."

"Oh, great, right, well, that's just brilliant, isn't it. You don't think Danny saw this, do you?"

"You've just been told about a solar flare is going to wipe out your planet." Raven glanced at her, unamused, "And you're more worried about a row with your boyfriend." She rolled her eyes, humans for you, but sighed and looked at Clara, "keeping this from him will probably be bad for him."

"How?" Clara scoffed. Surely if anything keeping Danny away from the dangers they see would be a lot safer.

"Doctor, you wanna take this one?" She glanced at him, sending him a pointed look.

"Not really," he muttered.

"Right." She turned back to Clara, "if you leave him in the dark too much then he could do something, get in contact with someone who could end up getting him kidnapped when he thinks he's helping you only to end up enslaved for a year."

Clara blinked, "is that what you did? When you took over the earth?" She looked at the Doctor, "did she enslave the family?"

"We're past that." He grumbled, not wanting to talk about it. It was centuries ago and they had erase the year so it never actually happened, the only ones involved knew it happened and even he hadn't seen them again. Honestly, not the worst thing the Master had ever done. "How did she know this?" he shook his head, "She even put the date on it!"

"I always make them date their homework." Clara told them.

"It's today's date."

"Well, there must be a way?"

"They want something. They're saying something. If there is a way, the way is Maebh Arden."

"Ok," Clara sucked a breath, trying to calm down, "you know they're not really gifted and talented, don't you? I just tell them that to make them feel good."

"We have in fact gathered that much." Raven drawled.

"She's lost someone." The Doctor reasoned, "People who've lost someone, they're always listening, always looking, always hoping. So, they notice more. They hear more." He trailed as a wolf howled in the distance.

"Was that a howl?" Clara gasped...when a second howl responded, "Was that a wolf? No. That is impossible. We're in London."

"Would that be the London with the zoo?" The Doctor countered, "The zoo with the pack of wolves? The zoo whose barriers and gates have probably been mangled by the trees? No, wolves are not impossible. Stick to the path, Red Riding Hood."

"There is no path." Clara hissed.

A pack of wolves howled, the noise getting louder as they got closer.

"Then we're lunch."

Whatever else he had to say was cut off by a little girls scream.

"Maebh?!" Clara yelled, the trio running in the direction of the scream finding the girl on the other side of an iron fence, the pack of wolves creeping closer.

Raven quickly flashed her sonic of the gate, unlocking it, the girl quickly running through, slamming it as she quickly locked it again.

"Maebh." The Doctor crouched before the girl, "You came looking for me. You didn't..." he watched her as she raised her hands over her head, seemingly searching something away from her face, "Maebh, Maebh, you didn't just stumble into the TARDIS. Tell me what you know."

"Doctor!" Clara called, her gaze on the wolves.

"This is important." He waved her off.

"Yes. Can we please deal with the wolves first?"

"These are zoo wolves." Raven shrugged, "They're not even used to hunting."

"Yeah?" She scoffed, seeing the wolves baring they're teeth.

"All right, ok." The Doctor nodded, slowly straightening, seeing the wolves were a slight issue, "We've just got to look as if we're too much bother to eat, right? So, stay still. Stay together. Look big. Look big like a big 4-headed, 8-legged scary thing!"

"Really?" Raven just looked at him unamused as Clara called Maebh closer...only for the wolves to jump over the fence and run away, whining. "Well...see? Zoo wolves, nothing to worry about."

"What are wolves frightened of?" Clara frowned, even as zoo wolves, they were terrified.

She got her answer from a deep growl hiding in the trees as a large tiger crept closer.

"Tigers." Raven answered her, "wolves are frightened of tigers."

"I got that thanks." She breathed. "Doctor?"

Before he could answer with a plan a bright light shone on the tigers face, making it whine and run off.

"Mr Pink!" Clara beamed, noticing him standing there flashing a torch with the rest of the kids behind him, "Why, thank you very much."

"Ah, no problem." He shrugged, modest, "Just decided it was best not to leave you alone with them." He nodded to the Time Lords, "They've worked well together. Noticeable increase in confidence and energy levels."

"Well done. And for saving us from a tiger, too."

"Er, has she had her medication yet?" Danny glanced at Maebh, seeing her waving her hands around, swatting away invisible flies. The Doctor watching her curiously.

"No medication." Raven shook her head, "she knows something...medication will only stop it."

"Maebh," the Doctor called, crouching to the girls height, "what is this?" He mimicked her hands waving around, "What is this?"

"Apart from being almost savaged by a tiger," Danny glared, "and abducted by a Scotsman and evil villainess..."

"Sh! We've moved past that!" Raven whipped around to face him.

"She's allowed any nervous tics she likes, ok?" He finished as though she hadn't interrupted.

"This is not a nervous tic." The Doctor shook his head, "This is reaction."

"Please!" Ruby begged, "Just give her, her tablets. She's been in a state since her sister went missing!"

"Maebh!" Raven called as the girl took off running, still waving her hands around, she groaned as she and the Doctor ran after her, Clara and Danny following with the other children.

"You won't find your sister out there!" Ruby yelled behind them.

~.~

They followed her to a small clearing, quite circular, the trees around the edges covered in cobwebs, the girl standing there, still swatting something away.

"It's coming" Maebh gasped, "It's coming for everyone, and I can't unthink it!"

"Maebh." The Doctor stepped before her, "Maebh, this forest is communicating. With you. Nobody else. No technology can hear what it's saying, but you can. Tell us what it wants. Where it came from. Just tell me who did this."

"It was me. I did this. I did these trees."

"No, Maebh. You didn't make a global forest appear overnight. How could you do that?"

"Thoughts come to me. Ever since Annabel went missing, I look for her everywhere. I don't find her, but I find thoughts. The big forest was one. I thought everyone would love it. The thoughts! The thoughts! They go so fast…"

"Maebh," Clara called gently, "can you see something that we can't see?

"Nearly." She frowned, "Too fast. Everywhere."

"Everything's subject to gravity. If I can create a little local increase…" he pulled out the sonic, flicking it on.

"No!" Danny moved to stop, "You're not experimenting on…"

"Really, don't." Raven warned him, "the Doctor would never experiment on children. Not when he has lost his own…"

"What…?" he frowned at the man, having not known about that when golden specks of light appeared around Maebh's head, the exact places she had been swatting.

"They're lovely!" Maebh smiled, frowning a moment later, "They don't like it when you're holding them. They want you to let them go."

"Who are they?" Raven crouched to her height.

"We are Here." The girl stated, tense, her voice different, being used to speak from something else, "Here, always, since the beginning and until the end."

"Here?" the Doctor frowned, "That's it?"

"We are the green shoots that grow between the cracks, the grass that grows over the mass graves. After your wars are over, we will still be Here. We are the life that prevails."

"Why now? Why are you here now?"

"We hear the call and we come, as we came before to the great North Forest, where we lie still in a great circle. As we came to the vast Southern Forest."

"Who is calling you now?"

"The sun that creates. The sun that destroys. You are hurting us. Let us go."

"You sent for me." The Doctor's frown deepened, "The girl came looking for me. Why? Why me?"

"We did not send." The voice using Maebh continued, "Pain. Did not send for you. We don't know you. We were here before you and will be here after you."

The Doctor nodded slowly, flicking the sonic off, the lights disappearing as Maebh fell to her knees, the man quickly helping her, "Maebh, you came looking for the Doctor. Think. Who sent you for the Doctor?"

"It was just a thought." She told him, "It was just a thought that came. I think it came from Miss. They've gone." She pouted, unable to see the lights now, "Why does everything have to go?"

"This really is going to happen, isn't it?" Clara asked him quietly.

"Stars implode." He murmured, "Planets grow cold. Catastrophe is the metabolism of the universe. I can fight monsters. I can't fight physics."

"Why would trees want to kill us? We love trees."

"You chop them down and use for furniture." Raven deadpanned.

"If that's love, no wonder they're calling down fire from the heavens." The Doctor agreed.

"But we saw the future." Clara shook her head, "Lots of futures. Earth's futures."

"They're about to be erased." He sighed.

"If you can't save them all, save who you can." Clara faced them both, "The TARDIS. It's a lifeboat, isn't it? Not everybody has to die."

"Could you do it?" Raven met her eyes, keeping eye contact, "decide who lives and who dies?"

She fell silent.

~.~

Raven groaned as they arrived back at the TARDIS to find it covered in vines and leaves. Danny setting himself and the kids to clear the doorway.

"When they're done, you need to get in your box and go." Clara said quietly.

"We're all going." The Doctor shook his head, "We're taking the kids."

"Taking them where? What are you going do with them? Leave them on an asteroid? Find a space academy for the gifted and talented? They just want their mums and dads, and they're never going to stop wanting them."

"I can save you and Danny."

"Danny Pink will never leave those kids so long as he is breathing." They glanced back to the man to see him and the children taking a selfie with the lion statue.

"I can save you." The Doctor stated.

"I don't want you to." She murmured.

"What, you don't want to live?" Raven frowned. Was that not the point of life? To live?

"Of course I want to live. I just..."

"You don't want to be the last." She nodded, understanding. She couldn't fully understand having not technically been the last. At first it had been the three of them, her, her father and the Doctor. Then when he abandoned her, it had just been her and the Doctor but with her hiding away he believed her to be dead. She knew partly what it was like.

At the end of the universe. Unable to feel anyone, with her father as a human. But she hadn't been alone, not really.

She smiled sadly, "yeah…" she sighed.

"Then why did you bring us all here?" the Doctor sighed.

"Because it's the only way to get you back to the TARDIS, make you think you're saving someone. Well, you know what, Doctor? This time, the human race is saving you. Even after everything, Raven. Make it worthwhile."

"This is our world, too." The Doctor murmured, recalling what Clara had said before, when she had been yelling, "We walk your Earth, we breathe your air."

"And on behalf of this world, you're very welcome." She smiled, "Now, go. Save the next one."

"Thank you." Raven whispered. Knowing the hidden wording, how Clara knew she was terrified of dying. And how now she was allowing her to live.

"Maebh!" the Doctor called to the girl, "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you." "You helped me loads." She smiled brightly at him, "I thought it was all my fault. I feel much better now. Are you going to get rid of the forest?"

He didn't answer as Clara moved to the girls' side, joining the class as the last of the Time Lords headed inside.

~.~

"It doesn't make sense." Raven moved to the monitor, flicking it on, "why now? Why with the solar storm? A flame proof forest when a solar storm is about to…" she trailed, eyes widened as she realised how obvious it was and just how utterly blind they had been.

It was so obvious!  
"What?" he frowned, he knew she had realised something.

"A flame proof forest with a solar storm about to hit!" she exclaimed, "this is not an invasion! This isn't an invasion! The trees are saving the planet from the storm!"

"Raven, you are brilliant!" he cheered.

"I know!"

~.~

They found Clara, Danny and the children again back walking through the forest back to the school and managed to get them back into TARDIS.

"It's there on the screen, look." The Doctor spoke, turning the monitor to the group as they sat on the steps leading to the upper gallery where Raven, naturally, sat in her arm chair, "Big solar flare headed this way. A thousand kilometres a second. Coronal mass ejection. Geomagnetic storm. It's huge. It's brewing up a solar wind big enough to blow this whole planet away. I assumed your teachers have mentioned this?"

"I thought it would spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk." Clara remarked, dryly.

"OK. OK. Well, this is the bad news. The good news is, it's happened before. And you're still here." He changed the screen, "The Tunguska Blast, 1908. That should have blown the whole planet off its axis, but it didn't. It knocked a few trees over. Well, a few tens of thousands of trees over. Curuçá in Brazil. Same story. Earth should have been smashed, but it wasn't. What do these things have in common?"

"They're really, really scaring us?" Ruby called.

"That's just his face." Raven remarked.

"Oi!" he cried, "Trees. Whenever there's a planet-threatening, extra-terrestrial impact, trees. Massive forest, filling the atmosphere with oxygen. Pumping it up like a massive, highly inflammable airbag, so that when trouble hits..."

"Everyone dies!" one boy called.

"Ha!" Raven laughed, "Not quite. The impact burns off the excess oxygen."

"You have some fairly hectic weather for a few days and some fairly trippy looking sunsets," the Doctor added, "but apart from that, you will be all right. I was wrong. The trees are not your enemy. They're your shield. They've been saving you since for ever. Protecting you from everything that space can throw at you."

"The wide ring." Clara recalled, "The red ring. In the museum, Ruby saw a cross-section of a tree. One of the rings was wider than the others, and red."

"Atmospheric dust, captured by the trees. The fingerprint of an asteroid. Happy Red Ring Day!" the Doctor cheered, throwing his arms up, much to the bemusement of the humans.

"I don't get it." Ruby frowned, "If they're good, then why are we chopping them down?"

"The Government are sending out defoliating teams." Danny explained, "They're dropping chemicals on them right now."

"What is it with you people?" the Doctor scoffed, "You hear voices, you want to shut them up. The trees come to save you, you want to chop them down."

"Or you think you need to save the world when it's already saving itself." Clara gave a pointed look at the Doctor.

"I did admit that we were wrong."

"We?!" Raven repeated, offended.

"Yes, we."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Excellent!" he grinned, "Mobile networks are still operative. Right. We are going to call everyone on Earth and tell them to leave the trees alone."

"Can I do it?" Maebh asked, "I started it. I should finish it."

"Class project!" Raven clapped, jumping to her feet, "save the Earth."

~.~

The Doctor, Raven and Clara, stood in the doorway of the TARDIS, looking down at the Earth, the solar storm passing over head, barely touching the planet from the trees.

They gotten a transmission across the world, a quite broadcast that Maebh gave to the planet not to burn the trees and that they were helping, adding a quick message for her sister to come home.

"This is amazing," Clara breathed, as the golden light lessened and the green from the trees slowly faded, "how will they explain this tomorrow?"

"You'll forget it ever happened." Raven waved her off.

"We are not going to forget an overnight forest."  
"Sure! Like how you didn't forget that the planet was enslaved for an entire ear?" she mocked.

Clara gave her an unamused look, "you went back and erased it so that never happened."

"Forgetting is a human superpower."

"If you remembers how things felt you'd stop having wars," the Doctor added, "or babies."

Raven shook her head, moving back to the chessboard that had momentarily been forgotten, thankfully untouched by the children and took her move at long last, "checkmate!"

"what?" The Doctor frowned at the board, "you cheated! The kids…"

"Oh, right, blame the kids because you don't want to admit I beat you."

"I have never lost a game of chess before."

"Oh, please, you'll loose to a robot dog."

Clara shook her head, smiling fondly at the bickering pair, she shut the doors heading down to the kitchen as the pair still argued.

If they were going to argue, then she at least wanted a drink and some snacks to watch while she could.


	14. Dark water

Raven glanced up from her book at the small explosion from under the console, where the Doctor was trying to fix something but clearly was just breaking the TARDIS even more. She rolled her eyes, good job she and the TARDIS were now and good terms, she would have to fix that later.

"Raven can you get that!" He yelled as the phone rang.

"I'm busy." She replied. She wasn't really, but she was quite into her book, the plot was just beginning to thicken.

She heard him huff, stalking up the stairs to answer the phone himself, sending her a look seeing she really wasn't busy enough to ignore the phone.

"Clara?" The Doctor called, noticing the caller ID as he put her on speaker.

"Hey!" The woman responded.

"Sorry, we were busy, what's up?"

"Same old, same old."

"Well, you're only human." He shrugged her off, sending a confused look at Raven as she joined him at the console, bringing up the news from Clara's time, there was something about the womans tone that didn't sit right with either of them, "so what can we do for you?"

"I know it's not Wednesday but it's been a stressful week so..."

He nodded slowly, distracted as he caught sight of the news. Local school teacher hit by a car. Died at the scene. Danny Pink. "We'll be right there, Clara." And he put the phone down, looking at Raven in concern, "what do you think she'll do?"

Raven shrugged and sighed, "something unbelievable humanly stupid. Be prepared for the worst."

~.~

"Start her up!" Clara cheered moments after they landed in the woman's flat.

"Where are we going?" Raven inquired from her armchair.

"Away."

"From?" The Doctor asked.

"Just away."

"Well, normally you say work or kids or dishes or dullness. So what's happened?"

Clara moved past them heading down to the under console a moment before skipping back up again, "A volcano."

"I'm sorry?" He blinked at her, noticing her hand reappearing from her coat pocket.

"I've never seen an active volcano, do you know one?"

"What's so great about seeing a volcano? It's just a sort of leaky mountain."

"I've never seen lava." She remarked as she moved past him.

"I'll throw you in it," Raven deadpanned, "that's what you're getting at isn't it?"

"Raven..." the Doctor sighed.

She just shrugged. It was something she'd say on a normal day, best not to let Clara know they knew something was wrong.

"It's rubbish." Raven summarised catching sight of Clara looking between them.

"Prove it." She called, moving to the upper gallery. "Do you still have those sleep patch things?"

"You can't have one." The Doctor told her.

"I'm having trouble sleeping."

"You still can't have one."

"Can I have one?"

"He just said you can't," Raven grumbled.

Clara glanced at her, seeing she wasn't paying her any attention, reading her book and took the packet of sleeping pills from one of the drawers.

"So, volcano," the Doctor called having sent them to a random volcano, "what's so good about lava?"

Clara didn't speak as she set on of the sleeping patches on the mans neck.

The Doctor slowly awoke in the hard ground, finding the TARDIS behind him, Raven groaning a few feet away, as she too gained consciousness again. A volcano before them, smoke surrounding the drop.

"You told me once what it would take to destroy a TARDIS key." Clara spoke, stepping towards them through the smoke, "That's what's so good about lava. All seven. From all of your hiding places."

"Why would you tell her that!" Raven grumbled, hitting his arm, utterly unfazed by Clara threat.

"Clara, what are you doing?" The Doctor demanded of her, "Don't. Be very, very careful with that. Those are very, very..."

She pulled a key from her coat pocket and tossed it into the lava behind her. "Do I have your attention?" She asked them.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded, slowly standing before her as Raven shifted to cross her legs, curious to just how far Clara would go.

"Good."

"No. Not good, Clara."

"Danny Pink."

"Yeah?"

"Is dead."

"And?"

"Seriously?" She scoffed, holding up another key to throw away.

"And?" He stressed, gesturing her to continue.

"And fix it. Change it. Change what happened. Save him. Bring him back."

"No." He shook his head.

Clara threw a second key in the lava, "Five left. Every time you say no to me, I will throw another key down there. Do we understand each other?"

"Well, I understand you. Let's not get carried away."

"Time can be rewritten."

"But shouldn't be," Raven remarked, eying Clara as she pulled a third key out. Surely she wouldn't throw all 7 away. And lock them all out of the TARDIS forever, trapping the three of them of the volcanoes ledge, forever. "We make ripples not tidal waves. Some points are fixed and cannot be changed."

"But you know that of course, otherwise you wouldn't be threatening us." The Doctor added.

"Did you just say no?" Clara's eye narrowed.

"If I change the events that brought you here, you will never come here and ask me to change those events. Paradox loop. The timeline disintegrates. Your timeline. And yes!"

"Yes?"

"Yes. I did just say no. Throw away the key."

"I have seen you change time, I have seen you break any rule you want. And Raven has caused a Paradox."

"And look what it did to me!" She bowed mockingly.

"We know when we can, we know when we can't." The Doctor continued, knowing that what Raven had helped the Master do was so very wrong, but the girl was loyal to her family and always did as asked, "Throw the key."

"I know what you're doing." Clara glared, "You're trying to take control."

"I am in control. Throw away the key. Do as you are told."

"No!"

"Well, either you do as you're told or stop threatening me. There really isn't a third option here."

"Do you know what, Doctor? When it comes to taking control, you really are out of your depth." She threw away the remaining keys, holding up the single one left. "One last chance. And I don't care about the rules, I don't give a damn about paradoxes. Save Danny. Bring him back or I swear you will never step inside your TARDIS again."

"And never will you," Raven pointed out, "throw that key away and the three of us are trapped out here for the end of days."

"No." The Doctor stated.

"Do as you're told."

"No."

"Say it again so I know you mean it."

"No!"

"Do it." Raven hissed, "do it, Clara. Throw it away."

"I'm not kidding!" Clara cried, her hand shaking.

"Neither am I!"

"I will do it!"

"Go on then!" Raven urged.

"Raven! Shut up!" They both rounded on her for the moment.

On the verge of hysterics Clara tossed the final key in the lava, all of them falling silent as the woman sunk to her knees, Ravens words from earlier hitting her. They had no way to leave this place now, "Oh, I'd say I'm sorry but I'd do it again." She sobbed, "I'd do it again. Well, what are you doing?" She glanced up to see them both staring at her, "Why are you just standing there? Do you understand what I have just done?"

"Do you?" Raven countered, dropping to her knees before the crying woman, "look at your hand."

"There's nothing in my hand."

"Look at your hand, you stupid ape."

"The keys, they're gone." She shook her head, head bowed, "They're down there. They've gone."

She stared at the human, unamused and grabbed her hand before her face, showing the sleeping patch.

Clara sniffled, "what...?"

"Do you really think that'd work on me?" The Doctor scoffed, beginning to peel it off. He had known what the woman had been planning and as she reached for his neck he had quickly snatched it and placed it on the palm of her hand.

Clara blinked, the smoking volcano dissolving around them and they were back in the console room, as they were but Raven was down before her as well, kneeling before her as she was on her knees as well.

"They're not sleep patches." The Doctor continued, picking up the dropped keys from the metal floor, "They induce a dream state. Makes you very suggestible. I allowed the whole scenario to play out just as you planned. I was curious about how far you would go."

"Well, now you know," Clara's voice was thick with emotion as she let Raven pull her to her feet.

"Now we know." Raven agreed.

"I love him."

Raven grimaced. A stupid human emotion, that Time Lords didn't understand. And that was just that. They didn't understand love. And Clara was human and in love with Danny Pink. She would never understand but she liked Clara and for some reason Clara didn't hate her in return, she knew she wasn't the friendliest person to deal with, yet Clara put up with her. So for that, she would help to try and comfort the woman, sad over her deceased lover.

"Yes, you're quite the mess of chemicals, aren't you?" The Doctor rolled his eyes, gesturing to her wide, wet eyes he always insulted.

"So, what now?" Clara whispered, "What do we do now? The three of us, what happens now? Doctor?" Silence, "Raven?"

Clara almost flinched at Ravens cold look, the Time Lords sharing a look a moment before Raven looked back at her, "Go to hell," she stated, the Doctor pulling a lever to land them.

"Fair enough." Clara agreed, she had gone too far, "Absolutely fair enough."

"Clara!" Raven called as the woman walked to the doors, head low, "we meant literally." The woman stopped and looked back at that.

"You asked us what we're going to do." The Doctor said, "We're going to hell."

"Or wherever it is people go when they die."

"If there is anywhere. Wherever it is, we're going to go there and we're going to find Danny. And if it is in any way possible, we're going to bring him home. Almost every culture in the universe has some concept of an afterlife. I always meant to have a look around, see if I could find one."

"You're...going to help me?" Clara breathed.

"Why wouldn't we?" Raven blinked.

"Because of what I just did." Clara blinked, tears filling her eyes again, "I just..."

"That's was nothing!" Raven waved her off.

"You betrayed me." The Doctor stated, his voice hard, "Betrayed my trust, you betrayed our friendship, you betrayed everything that I've ever stood for. You let me down!"

"Then why are you helping me?" Clara whispered.

"Why? Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference? Stop it with the eyes. Don't do that with the eyes. How do you do that anyway? It's like they inflate. Cut out the whining while you're at it. We've got work to do. This is it, Clara, one of those moments."

"What moments?"

"The darkest day. The blackest hour. Chin up, shoulders back. Let's see what we're made of, you and I. Switching off the safeguards, turning off the nav-com. Remember, we did this before. We plugged you into the TARDIS telepathic interface."

"We ended up all over Danny's timestream." Clara frowned.

"Because you and he are linked." Raven nodded, "must be love."

"Your timestreams are intertwined." The Doctor continued, pulling the woman to the console, "So if he's anywhere at all, that link will hold. Give me your hands."

She pulled them back, "I..."

"We're in a hurry."

"I don't deserve friends like you." She whispered.

"Good job I'm not you're friend then," Raven reasoned, taking her hands herself and setting them in the lumpy section of the console, firmly setting them in.

"I'm terribly sorry, Clara." The Doctor grimaced slightly as he moved to set them off, "but I'm exactly what you deserve. Think about Danny. Think about the man you lost." He instructed lightly, "Let it hurt. Let it burn. But don't bleat. Don't ask, why him? Why me? Forget all that. Ask one question. Just one. Ask, where is Danny Pink now? Where is he now?" A few moments later the time rotor started, "Well, the TARDIS thinks he's somewhere."

"Or she's not happy with Clara's betrayal and taking her home," Raven countered, as both looked at her, unamused, "sorry."

The three of them looked at each other as the TARDIS set them down somewhere.

"Where are we?" Clara breathed.

"Nav-com's offline." Raven reminded them, she couldn't check, they would have to step outside.

"We'll have to do this old school." The Doctor remarked.

"So no change then." Raven grinned at the look he shot her.

"But this is where Danny is?" Clara cut in.

"Almost certainly not." The Doctor shook his head, "It's where there's a connection with Danny. According to the TARDIS, this is where it's most likely that your timeline will re-intersect with his. And that won't do."

"What won't?"

"You won't." He turned, gesturing at her, "Look at you. I need sceptical, clever, critical. I don't need mopey. It put years on your face. And what if people see us together? It looks like you've been melted."

Clara frowned at him, unsure if that was him insulting her or trying to make her laugh, "Are you forgetting why we're here?"

"We're here to get your boyfriend back from the dead," Raven deadpanned.

"So buck up and give me some attitude." The Doctor pushed the doors open stepping out into a semi dark room, blinking as Raven switched on a torch, "where did you get that?" He wondered, genuinely confused.

"Pockets." She eyed him oddly. Where else did you find anything? And shoved her free hand in her pocket as she flashed the light around the room, the TARDIS had landed between two columns at the bottom of a set of steps that led up to an urn in a plinth with an eternal burning flame. Raven shone the torch on a small obelisk with what must be the company logo, a large circle with a smaller one on the corner of it, a slogan; '3W: rest in peace, we promise.' Carved below it.

"Fish tanks?" Clara called as they headed up the steps where the walls were lined with glass tanks filled with water.

"In a mausoleum?" Raven raised an eyebrow at her.

"What does that mean?" She asked, gesturing to the plinth the logo on there as well.

"It means those are definitely not fish tanks." The Doctor muttered.

They walked off again, into a room similar to a gallery, the back wall line with the water filled tanks, the liquid giving the skeletons inside an early blue haze, each skeleton sitting. In a chair staring ahead.

"Why?" Clara had to asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor muttered. It was just so...odd.

"I'm assuming they didn't actually drown in there." Clara reasoned, electing to ignoring Raven the moment, seeing the girl hopping gently on her toes out of the corner of her eyes. It was weird and distracting and she really didn't want to ask what she was doing. Some weird alien thing was all she gathered.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "they were placed after death. They're tombs. Water tombs." He turned to Raven, "that's really quite distracting."

"It's just..." she shifted, "there's just something odd about all this..." It wasn't artificial gravity, that's for sure. There was something about the place, it just felt so Earthly...smelt like Earth too. But...that didn't make sense, if Danny was dead they wouldn't find him in a simple Earth mausoleum.

She was cut off as Clara suddenly gasped, a through dawning on her, "oh god. Am I going to find Danny now? Is that why the TARDIS brought us here? I don't want to see him like that..." she jumped back at the hand on her shoulder only to find it had been Raven setting her hand there as her own little way of comfort.

"Good point," the Doctor nodded, oblivious to the girls actions, "tombs with windows. Who wants to watch their loved ones rot? Why would anyone go to so much trouble just to keep watch on the dead?" He glanced around the room looking for an answered, noticing a book, like a ledger, on a lectern and moved towards it for any idea what the place could be. He reached to a page, spreading his fingers and activating the holographic screen displaying the logo again, the information scrolling before them, read aloud.

"3W. Death is not the end," a woman's voice began, "but we can help with that. Ever since 3W encountered the truth about the death experience, 'we have been working hard to find a better life for the deceased. At 3W, afterlife means aftercare."

"Ok," Clara frowned as the paragraph finished, "Bit strange?"

"Very." The Doctor agreed, "why have the scrolling and the voice?"

"For the hard of hearing?" Raven suggested, "the blind?" She flashed her torch ahead of them, noticing a figure stepping further into the dark away from the light, "must be difficult reading backwards. Gotcha caught now!"

"What?" Clara blinked.

A sinister looking woman in a purple Edwardian suit and flat hat stepped into the light, looking like an evil Mary Poppins, smiling widely at the trio. "Hello. I hope you're well. How may I assist you with your death?"

"Well, there's no immediate hurry," the Doctor began, eying the woman in distrust. "We were just..."

"Browsing," Clara offered.

"Yeah, yeah, browsing."

"Please, take all the time you need." The woman smiled, none of them seemingly aware that it was mostly aimed in Ravens direction, "At 3W, you always have the rest of your life."

"Oh, good. That's good to know, Clara, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Great." The woman nodded, unsure how to take that so just agreed with him anyway.

"I prefer cremation," Raven murmured, eying the woman, "much more..." she trailed off. It was supposed to be a way of ending a person for good, it was the Time Lord way when someone died, their regenerations gone and they were officially dead. No one could get their hands on the body, they could risk other species getting their hands on their regenerative abilities and after the war, well, Gallifrey didn't have a space big enough to bury all the dead.

She swallowed thickly at the reminder of burning her fathers body before she ran from the Doctor for so many years. She shrugged off the Doctors hand as he set it on her shoulder knowing where her mind had wandered too. "So what exactly is 3W?" She asked the woman, distracting herself.

"Apologies." The woman tilted her head at her, "clearly you have not received the 3W welcome package."

"Oh that won't be..." the Doctor began but was cut off, his eyes widening as the woman lunged at Raven, hugging her impossibly tight that if it had been Clara she would probably stopped breathing.

"Doctor!" Raven whined as she stood awkwardly in the woman's grasp.

"Yes!" He snapped out of his stare and moved forwards to pull the woman away but she had already released her moving and hugging him as well, clearly not as tightly as Raven but still uncomfortable. But he wasn't a hugger. Neither was Raven so they both found the sudden, none consented hug, uncomfortable.

"Welcome to the 3W institute," the woman smiled, "you have just received the welcome package."

"No! No, no, no!" The Doctor shook his head.

"We're not a family," Raven argued, firmly getting that fact out, "he is so not my dad."

"She just tags alone for the free food."

"And warm bed."

"Not my daughter."

"Thank god."

The woman tilted her head at them, but Clara spoke before she could, "she didn't say you were."

They looked at each other, "good." The Doctor said.

Did everyone just claim they were father and daughter that much they just assumed everyone thought that even if they didn't say anything? Or did they both just want to ensure no one could make that stupid mistake.

"Who are you?" Raven asked, she felt it, something that even the Doctor couldn't miss. The two beating hearts. There were very few humanoid species with two hearts, especially beating as a Time Lords did. Why give a welcome droid two hearts?

"I'm Missy," she turned, smiling brightly at her with her fullest attention.

"And Missy is..."

"Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface. I am a multi-function, interactive welcome-droid. Helping you to help me to help you."

"I need to speak to whoever's in charge here." The Doctor stated firmly, closely watching the welcome droid.

"I am in charge."

"You're the welcome droid and also in charge?" Raven asked, skeptical.

"Yes."

"Well, who repairs you?" The Doctor questioned, "Who, who maintains you?"

"I am programmed for self-repair." Missy informed them, "I am maintained by my heart." She grabbed the Doctors hand and set it on the centre of her chest, feeling the duel heartbeat. "Is everything in order?"

The Doctor pulled his hand back at the identical beating hearts, staring at her, clearly he hadn't felt the hearts beating from the hug like Raven, of course, he was taller and her head and been trapped close to the woman's. "Who maintains your heart?"

"My heart is maintained by the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" The Doctor frowned.

"Dr Chang!" The woman shouted, turning to walk off.

"Who's there?" A man called from behind them, making them turning to see a man approaching in a suit and glasses.

"Hello," Clara greeted the man.

"Hello," the Doctor murmured, distracted.

"So, hey, condolences." The man offered.

"Condolences?" Clara blinked.

"It's a mausoleum," he explained, "It's our hello. Is there a particular dead person you wish to speak too?"

Clara took a breath before answered, "Yes. Yes there is."

"Then this way." The man turned and led them back the way he came.

"Are you...alright?" Raven asked Clara, her hand hovering by hers.

"No." She swallowed, snatching the girls hand as they walked off.

"There would be something wrong if you were," the Doctor muttered following after them.

None of them were aware of the welcome droid watching them go, the skeletons doing the same.

When Raven glanced back, the woman had already turned her back on them.

~.~

"Come in, come in." Dr Chang led them into his wide office, a skeleton in a tank in the middle of them room, like the others, as he led them to his desk, "Going to need to take a reading off you."

"A reading?" Clara hesitated.

"Won't hurt." He swore, flicking a switch.

"What won't?"

"How does the body keep its integrity?" The Doctor wondered as he looked closer to the skeleton standing in the tank.

"Each body is encased in a support exoskeleton." Dr Chang stared.

"An invisible exoskeleton?" Clara looked disturbed.

"It's only invisible in the water. There's a specially engineered refraction index in the fluid so we can see the tank resident unimpeded by the support mechanisms."

"So each skeleton is inside something?" Raven mused.

"Are you serious?" Clara gasped, "X-ray water?"

"It's so cool." Chang nodded, "Look at this. We call it dark water." He dropped his sleeve into the jar of liquid sat on his desk, his watch and jacket disappearing. "Only organic matter can be seen through it." He removed his arm and dried it off. "I keep saying they should use this stuff in swimming pools."

"Ew!" Raven grimaced, "that's disgustingly human."

"Why?" The Doctor blinked, utterly oblivious to what it could mean.

"Doesn't matter." Clara waved off, knowing exactly what would happen in a swimming pool, that was not a very professional comment, "3W, what kind of name is that? What does it mean?"

"Well, you know, don't you?" Dr Chang looked at them in turn, "You're here on business or they wouldn't have let you in. Sorry. Should have checked. Who are you?"

"I thought that you would never ask." The Doctor produced the physic paper, "Sort out your security protocols, they're a disgrace."

"Another government inspection? So soon?" he squinted at the paper, "Why is there all this swearing?"

"Oh, I've got a lot of internalised anger."

"What does 3W stand for?" Raven wondered, rolling her eyes at the Doctor internal swearing. He could swear on the paper all he liked, but if she said one bad word aloud he complained. No fair!

"Well, the three words." Dr Chang blinked at her.

"What three words?" Clara asked.

"Seriously?" The man gaped, "You don't know?"

"Would ask if i knew." Raven grumbled. She really hated having to ask questioned and admit there was something she didn't know. It was humiliating.

"Never mind what we know and what we don't know," the Doctor waved him off, "just answer our question."

"Because people who don't know, when they hear about this, they can freak out." Dr Chang moved his gaze to Clara, sensing they had come for her. He had worked he for a while, he quickly picked up on being able to sense the person who had come to find their lost one.

"We're not going to freak out." Raven told him, her hand sliding into Clara, giving it a squeeze. It was as much comfort as she knew how to give.

"If you've had a recent loss, this might be, this will be disturbing."

"She'll be fine...oi!" The Doctor cried, rubbing his arm from Ravens punch, "will you stop doing that?"

"Speak for me again, I'll detach something from you." Clara said, a slight threat to her words, "I'll be fine."

"You know how people are scared of dying?" Dr Chang began, "Like, everybody."

"Yeah..." Raven eyed him.

"It's the most fundamental fear in the universe." The Doctor agreed.

"They'd be a lot more scared if they knew what it was really like." The man finished, tracing and activating a computer screen, playing a static white noise, "White noise off the telly. We've all heard it. A few years ago, Dr Skarosa, our founder, did something unexpected. He played that noise through a translation matrix of his own devising. This is a recording of what he heard." He adjusted the frequency and a number of voices spoke all at once.

"Ok," Clara sucked in a breath, "people, voices."

"So what?" The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Over time," Dr Chang continued, "Doctor Skarosa became convinced these were the voices of the recently departed. He believed it was a telepathic communication from the dead."

"Why? Was he an idiot?"

"He was able to isolate some of the voices, hear what they were saying."

"So, an idiot," Raven agreed.

"Shut up, the pair of you." Clara hissed.

"What I'm about to play you will change your life and not for the better." Dr Chang remarked carefully, "These are the 3 words which caused Doctor Skarosa to set up institutes, like this one, all over the world, to protect the dead. If you'd rather not hear these words, there's still time."

"Hurry up or I'll hit you with my shoe," Raven warned.

"Don't cremate me." The voices were clear, repeating over and over, "Don't cremate me!"

"There is one simple, horrible possibility that has never occurred to anyone throughout human history." Dr Chang hesitated, looking at the girls, Clara looking sick, clearly having lost someone recently and Raven well, it just brought back memories of having to burn her fathers body.

"Don't say it." Clara pleaded.

"The dead remain conscious. The dead are fully aware of everything that is happening to them."

"Fakery!" The Doctor scoffed, "All of it. It's a con, it's a racket!"

"I promise you this is not a con." Dr Chang looked insulted.

"The dead are dead. They're not talking to you out of your television sets. They're just gone and all these poor souls down there in these tanks, I'm sorry, but they're just dead and they're not coming back."

Dr Chang sighed, pressing a button, stopping the soft beeping that had begun to play, a voice calling into the room, "hello? Clara? Clara are you there?"

Clara gasped at the sound of Danny's voice, "Danny! I can hear you. Is that you? Oh, please, say it's you."

Before he could response the signal cut off, "just lost the signal," Dr Chang apologised, moving to try and get it back on, "But I can track it back, I'm pretty sure..."

"I don't...I don't understand." Clara shook her head, "What is happening?"

"We've been scanning you telepathically since you came in. You said you wanted to speak to someone who'd passed, and we've found you a match in the Nethersphere."

"This isn't possible." The Doctor argued, "The dead don't come back."

"It was him!" Clara cried, "It was his voice!"

"And he!" Raven jerked her head at Dr Chang, "just said they've been scanning you. Could have easily mimicked his voice from your memories."

"Getting him back," Dr Chang called, "very nearly!"

"Clara, can you hear me?" Danny's voice came back on with the signal reaching 99%.

"Yes!" Clara cheered, "Danny, I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you, Clara! Oh, God. Clara..."

"What do I do?" Clara hissed at the Doctor, too shocked to speak.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Hang on just a moment."

"Question him." The Doctor instructed, "Ask him questions only he'd know the answer to. Be sure. You," he pointed at Dr Chang, "with us."

"Where are you going?" Clara frowned after them as they stood and heads to the office doors.

"We've got to check out those tanks. There's something that I'm missing."

"Clara?" Danny called.

"Sceptical and critical, remember? Be strong, even if it breaks your heart."

"Connection's stabilised." Dr Chang assured, "It should be ok."

"Who would harvest dead bodies?" The Doctor shook his head, "I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Any ideas?" He glanced as Raven as they headed out of the doors and walked down the corridor.

She sighed, rubbing her head, "I feel like I should. When we figure it out it's going to be so obvious."

~.~

Dr Chang stopped short as they entered the gallery again, finding the skeletons in the tanks all standing up, the water draining from them, "Oh, my God. The tanks! The tanks are activating! They're not supposed to do that."

"And all your dead people are standing." The Doctor muttered, "Don't you think you skipped the headline?"

"Now, now, children." Missy smirked, stepping out from the shadows, "Naughty, naughty..."

"Dr Chang, you're welcome droid has developed a fault." The Doctor glared at her, she was the only over person here so clearly she had activated the tanks.

"That's not a droid." Dr Chang argued, "That's my boss."

"Wrong in public again," Raven mumbled.

"Oh, shut up." The Doctor hissed.

"You know," Missy grinned widely, "I might have been guilty of a just teensy little fibette. Dr Chang, I really liked working with you. I've enjoyed every day of it."

"I'm sorry?" The man blinked.

"You know, I've even got a little photograph of you looking so sweet. I'm always going to keep it. Always!"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Now, come on. Let's not dwell on horrid things. This is going to be our last conversation, and I'm the one who's going to have to live with that."

"Please don't kill me." Dr Chang pleaded.

"Say something nice."

"Please, please. I don't, I don't want to die. You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

"Say something nice."

"Please!"

"Dr Chang," Missy sighed, "I've got all day. And I'm not going to kill you until you say something nice."

The man hung his head a moment before straighten and fixing his glasses, staring the woman down, "It has been an absolute pleasure working with you, and I truly believe that you'll never be able to find it in your heart to murder me."

But Missy merely held up a hand held device similar to a phone, disintegrating him.

"Now, I'll be with you in a moment." Missy held up a finger, mock sniffling, "Just feeling a bit emotional at the moment."

Ravens gaze caught on something pass Missy, the water draining from the tanks showing the hidden matter, "Cybermen!"

"They're Cybermen!" The Doctor gasped as the metal men appearing in the tanks, all with eyes the same shape as the logo, "all of them. We've got to stop them getting out."

"Now who's missing the headline?" Missy smirked, "The Nethersphere." She gestured to a red and black sphere above them, "You know it's ever so funny, the people that live inside that think they've gone to heaven." "That's a matrix data-slice."

Raven recognised it instantly, "A Gallifreyan hard drive. Time Lord Technology. How did you get hold of that?"

"You're a brainy bird, you'll figure it out!" The woman giggled. "Imagine you could upload dying minds to that. Edit them. Rearrange them. Get rid of all those boring emotions. Ready to be re-downloaded. Meanwhile, you upgrade the bodies. Upload the mind, upgrade the body. Cybermen from cyberspace. Now, why has no-one ever thought of that before?"

"How did you get hold of Time Lord technology?" Raven repeated, "Who are you?"

"Don't you know?" The woman shook her head, almost amused at her obliviousness.

"You've got two hearts." Raven shrugged, missing Missy's disappointed look. "You're a Time Lady."

"I'm old-fashioned." She smiled.

"Which Time Lady?" The Doctor eyed her.

"The one you abandoned, Doctor." Missy advanced in him, "The one you left for dead. Didn't you ever think I'd find my way back?" Her sinister look faded as much as it could with her make up as she turned to Raven smiling softly, "especially to you my darling girl."

"She's under my care." The Doctor muttered, silently warning her to stay away from Raven.

"Well, I'd hope you put her before your precious companions."

"Clara..." Raven breathed, the mention of the companion making her remember exactly where they had left the human, "There was a tank in the office." She groaned, "You left her with a Cyberman."

"I did!?" He rounded on her at that.

"Not my companion." She reasoned as they took off to find their way back, bursting through the doors and outside of St Paul's Cathedral, the humans going about their business as usual.

"Oh, dear," Missy laughed, following them, "didn't you realise where you were?"

The Doctor rushed down the steps of the cathedral, shouting to the humans, "Get away from here! All of you, run!" He warned as the Cybermen stomped down the steps themselves.

Raven gasped as a few surrounded her, but didn't attack, just continued down where they stopped.

"Go! Go! Get away from here! Run away! Run, run! Get away from here all of you, now!"

"I'm sorry, everyone!" Missy announced to the crowd, "Another ranting Scotsman in the street. I had no idea there was a match on." She smiled, sitting on the steps, patting the space besides her for Raven, she slowly moved down and stood besides her, frowning as she tried to figure out who she could be.

The Rani? Perhaps. The Doctor had abandoned her a few times, but the woman tended to enjoy avoiding him and the trouble that followed.

Romana? He abandoned her in e-space but she found her way back and became President. Romana wasn't an evil plan kind of person, Romana would never team up with Cybermen.

There was a long list of Time Ladies the Doctor had hurt and would seek revenge against him.

There was also the possibility of a Time Lord who hated the Doctor and had now regenerated.

"Get away, go!" The Doctor yelled.

"Stop shouting, love." Missy rolled her eyes, "Stop making a fuss. It's too late. All the graves of planet Earth are about to give birth. You know the key strategic weakness of the human race? The dead outnumber the living."

"Who are you?" He frowned at her.

"Oh, you know who I am." She stood up again, wrapping an arm around Raven, "I'm Missy."

"Who's Missy?" Raven asked, tensing from the closeness.

"I would have thought you would have figured that out," she pouted, pinching the poor girls cheeks, "Short for Mistress. Well…I couldn't very well keep calling myself the Master, now could I?"

Raven stumbled away from her in shock, "no!"

"No..." the Doctor breathed.

"Dad!" Raven stared at the woman before them, for the moment ignoring the Cyber threat.

If that really was the Master, her father, then she was in no danger.

"I think it's mum now, don't you? Missy teased.

Raven could only continue to stare at her.

Things just got interesting.

**A/N: And we finally have Missy! :)**


	15. Death in heaven

Ravens stare turned into more of a glare. She had always hoped that if her father was alive she would see him, er her, again after they found Gallifrey and he (she) would be alive. She always assumed they would have been imprisoned or something.

But this was low.

"So you remember me then, mother?" She rounded on her, venom in her tone, "the one you abandoned and left for dead!"

Missy gasped, a hand over her hearts from her words, "using my own words against me, now are we?"

"You chose to die!" She yelled, "you left me! You would have rather died than to stay with me! I had nothing and no one for centuries!"

Missy looked hearts broken on the receiving end of Ravens anger, "well, I knew he would go easy on you. You know his soft spot with children."

"I ran and hid."

Back then she had been so scared, she just...she had panicked, kneeling besides him as he refused to regenerate. The Doctor had held the dead body in his arms and so she had ran away. Hiding on the ship until they landed and stole the Vortex Manipulator and disappeared to the moon, knowing the Doctor would never think to look for her surrounded by other humans, especially humans that were still in education. If not for the Great Intelligence she didn't think she would have ever seen the Doctor again.

"Well, I..."

"I should have known," the Doctor muttered, cutting them off. A part of him didn't want to because well, they were family had the Master had died on Raven and she had missed her father (mother?) terribly and now here they were. But if he didn't, he feared what would happen if they continued speaking, when they had argued on the Valiant things got broken, "Cybermen in board daylight?"

"And look at them," Missy grinned, "my boys!" She gestured to them before flipping off her hat and setting it on the ground before one of the Cybers, "Photos with the big metal men, one pound." A few humans tossed coins in the hat as they walked closer, taking photos. "Oh, honey!" Missy glanced over at the Doctor, Raven calm but still glaring at her, she wrapping an arm over her shoulder, her grin growing as she didn't throw it off and pulled out her handheld phone-like device, "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We're going viral." She showed them the news of Cybermen standing across the world, awaiting ordered.

"Would you like me to take a picture?" They glanced over at the voice to see Kate Stewart's assistant, Osgood, walking over, "Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you're having a lovely moment. Hang on!" She snatched the phone out of Missy's hand, the woman moving to grab it but Raven took her hand in hers to stop her.

"Nice bow tie." The Doctor remarked.

"Bow ties are cool." She smiled, "Big smiles, and now!" She shouted, stepping back as every single person in the area pulled out weapons from bags and prams and pockets. UNIT soldiers running from nearby buildings.

"Move, move, move!" The soldiers called, "Stand by. Surround target. Hold back!"

"Afternoon." Kate Stewart greeted as she approached calmly, hands behind her back, "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny." She glanced at the Doctor, "Haircut?"

"Bit of a trim." He shrugged.

"The woman." She nodded to Missy and the soldiers moved to grab her.

"No!" Raven shouted, struggled against them but the Doctor tugged her back as the soldiers grabbed Missy's arms firmly, holding her in place.

"Kate Stewart." She addressed the Cybermen, "Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also Chief Scientific Officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded."

"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology." One Cyberman stated.

"Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts." She tossed a battered Mondarian Cyberhead at its feet, "So now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this. He's on the payroll." She nodded to the Doctor.

"Am I?" The Doctor frowned.

"Well, technically."

"How much?"

"Cybermen," Raven cut in, "daddy is now mummy. Talk about money later, yeah?" She sent a glare at Missy as she giggled at her words.

"Apologises," Kate nodded, speaking to the Cybermen again, "any questions?"

Moving as one, the Cybers curled theirs hands into fists, slamming them to their chest plates starting up rockets beneath their boots and taking off to the sky.

"Back, back, everyone, back!" The soldiers warned as the Cybers flew off.

"Oh, my God!" Osgood gasped, catching sight of the cathedral, the roof opening up and more Cybermen flying off, "Is it supposed to do that? Is that new?"

"A sun roof on a cathedral?" Raven scoffed, "no, it's always been there."

"There's going to be mass panic." Kate remarked, "Everyone in London can see that."

"Everyone in London just clapped and went whee." The Doctor countered, "Hush, I'm trying to count."

"87, I think." Osgood called, "OCD."

"91," Raven corrected, "91 areas of significant population in Britain."

"How could Saint Paul's be full of 91 Cybermen and nobody noticed?" Kate gaped.

"Dimensional engineering." The Doctor explained, "One space folded inside another. Bigger on the inside. Easy if you're a Time Lord. A Cyberman for every city and major town." He took the phone back from Osgood and approached Missy, "It's happening everywhere, all over the world, right now."

"Sweet planet, this. I think I might keep it." She smiled, "although, maybe I'll give it to Raven."

"Can I have a better one than this?" Raven asked.

"Raven!" the Doctor huffed, she rolled her eyes and held up her hands.

"But I've missed so many," she pouted.

"One Cyberman per city." Kate mumbled, "What could they hope to accomplish?"

"Doctor!" Osgood called, pointing to the lone Cyberman that flew straight up to see it had detonated itself.

"Has it exploded?" Kate wondered.

"More than that." Missy called, "Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They're not human."

"If it's not exploding, what's it doing?" The Doctor glared at her, but Missy slammed her lips shut. Not answering.

"What are the Cybermen doing?" Raven called softly, standing closer to the UNIT women then her own mother. Oh, she missed her dearly, she wouldn't lie about that. But she was so mad she hadn't said anything. Spent all that time making this plan and not once had she come and let her know she was alive. Damn right she was mad.

"Pollinating." She answered her automatically, "Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth. The dead are coming home. All shiny and new. In 24 hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist."

"What are you doing?" The Doctor demanded from Missy, "Explain. Tell me now."

He didn't get an answer as a soldier set a dart in Missys neck, causing her to fall to her knees, "Oh! That was nice. Must do it again."

"No!" Raven cried, rushing over and dropping to her knees before her, "why did you do that?" She snapped at the soldier as Missy lost conscious, "you stupid, son of a...where are you taking her?" She demanded as a solider scooped the woman up.

"The same place were taking you," Kate stepped closer. "You both are to come with me."

"Why?" The Doctor glared, tugging Raven to him as she glared after the soldiers taking Missy away from her.

Again.

"There are protocols in place. And you are still a member of UNIT."

The Doctor let out a breath of frustration, turning to Raven.

"They've got my mother," she told him, simply. Because of her she would do as the ape said and go with UNIT.

He sighed, understanding she didn't want to be apart from her too much, not after all these years, "one condition."

"Name it." Kate agreed.

"Guard the graveyards."

~.~

The Doctor stood in a reasonable distance to Raven in an airplane hanger with Kate and a few other UNIT soldiers, watching as the TARDIS was brought in. Kate had refused to let them park her themselves, knowing of the Doctors history of running off. So they had allowed UNIT to bring the TARDIS in, clearly they had been in the cathedral to get we out. But yet no sign of Clara.

Raven shifted as two men wheeled Missy in, still unconscious handcuffed to a wheeling trolley.

"Who is she?" Kate inquired, "forgive me..." she looked at Raven, "you said she was your mother?"

"Yeah," she swallowed thickly, "you might be more familiar with her as my dad. The Master."

"Where's Clara?" The Doctor asked Kate.

"Clara Oswald, your assistant?"

"He prefers the term companion," Raven corrected.

"She was with us in St Paul's." The Doctor nodded.

"The team's still on site but they've been unable to gain access to the building." Kate told them.

"I want her found and brought here. I need her with me."

"Then give the order. As soon as you're on board Boat One your word is law. Quite literally."

"You got the TARDIS out, though?" The Doctor glanced at Kate as they moved onto the plane, the TARDIS getting set down in the cargo hold.

"Yes, and Saint Paul's locked down." She led them in the rather posh plane into the main room, where a long table was set in the middle of the room, chairs around it. Monitors on one side, along with a portrait of the Brigadier on the wall. An Indian man standing with Osgood, waiting for them.

"Where are we going?" The Doctor frowned, "Cloudbase?"

"You mean the Valiant?" Kate frowned.

"Oh, do we have to mention the Valiant now?" Raven moaned.

"Cloudbase was Thunderbirds." Osgood glanced at the Time Lords.

"Too conspicuous." Kate shook her head, "We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you're a moving target."

"Ah, I see you're bringing daddy along, too." The Doctor glanced at the portrait, "That's very sweet..." he trailed off as an Indian man walked over and saluted.

"Sir." He turned to Raven, "ma'am."

"Oh, don't do that." The Doctor grimaced, "You look like you're self-concussing, which would explain all of military history, now I think about it."

"Colonel Ahmed, sir. Privileged to meet you."

"Love your outfit, Colonel Ahmed. Are you in the Scouts? Are you a Man Scout? I didn't know they had those."

"Or girl scouts?" Raven added, "I could do with a cookie. Or just chocolate or any form of sugar." She blinked as the Doctor held out a small chocolate bar, grimacing she shook her head, "I have no idea how long that has been in your pocket, Doctor. I'm not that desperate." She walked off, taking a seat at the table and rested her head on it hiding by her folded arms.

This day was just so overwhelming.

First Danny dies, and Clara comes and tries to betray them to bring him back, then it turns out that Danny is alive in some form, and then of course her dad survives, and has regenerated into a woman.

She needed a holiday.

What was next? Jack Harkness snuck aboard and was working with UNIT and was currently down below guarding Missy?

"Suit yourself," the Doctor shrugged, moving to the small drinks table to the side.

"It was Captain Scarlet." Ahmed spoke as he passed Osgood.

"Sorry?" The woman blinked.

"Not Thunderbirds."

"Oh God, so it was."

"My confidence is growing every minute." The Doctor remarked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Coffee?" He glanced at Raven.

"You know what caffeine does to me," she replied, voice muffled against the table.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Stop trying to distract me!"

While maybe she did need to be distracted, honestly all she wanted to do was keep this information on her mind and swallow it all and then let it go. Distracting her just put it off.

"The President is on board." Kate informed the pilots in the cockpit.

"The President?" The Doctor looked up at her words, "We don't want Americans bobbing around the place. They'll only start praying."

"Not the President of America, sir." Ahmed shook his head, "The President of Earth."

"There isn't one."

"There is now."

"The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally." Kate agreed, "In the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth President is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state. There was only one practical candidate."

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it? Vote for an idiot."

"If you say so, Mr President."

"What is it with people electing you as president?" Raven grumbled, "multiply times on Gallifrey and now Earth? Are you going to assassinate yourself?"

"So long as you're on this plane, you're the Commander in Chief of every army on Earth. Every world leader is currently awaiting your instructions. You are the Chief Executive Officer of the human race. Any questions?"

"Can I take a nap?" Raven asked, her voice muffled with her head on the table.

The humans just stared at her. How could anyone sleep at a time like this?

~.~

The Doctor stood a decent distance away from Missy as they stood in the cargo hold of the ship, Osgood at the work bench at the back of the room, with the TARDIS in the corner. Raven standing before the unconscious woman as one of the two soldiers standing guard, injecting Missy's neck again, waking her up.

It was the best way to figure out what was the plan. Get Raven to ask, the Master loved his daughter and hopeful that didn't change just because of the gender change.

"Hello, mother." Raven greeted as the woman scrunched her nose as she awoke.

"Ah, there's my darling daughter." Missy beamed at the sight of her.

_"How did you survive?"_ She asked in Gallifreyan, wanting a little more privacy and speaking their native tongue was best as it would be only the three who could understand their conversation, _"not that I'm not glad..."_

_"You should know, you did save me."_

_"We saved Gallifrey."_ The Doctor called, needing to correct her.

Missy rolled her eyes at him, _"Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There's always collateral damage with you and me, isn't there?"_

"_Gallifrey's lost in another dimension."_

_"Yes and no."_ Missy smiled.

_"Meaning?"_

_"Yes, it's in another dimension. No, it's not lost."_

_"You know where it is?"_ Raven asked, hopeful.

_"Yep! You know the best part about knowing?"_ She leaned as far forwards as she could, _"Not telling."_

_"Well why not?"_ Raven pouted, _"you could take me home, mummy."_

_"Nice try, that doesn't work. Now you're older, darling."_

Raven looked insulted.

"Mr President, sir," the Indian man called over the speakers, "we're ready for you up here."

"Remember all those years when all you wanted to do was to rule the world?" The Doctor asked Missy, before calling back, "On my way."

"Thank you, Mr President."

"Piece of cake." He nodded to himself as he moved over to Osgoods work bench.

"Oh!" The woman jumped slightly at his approach, "er, it's her little device thingy. I thought there might be useful information on it. Who is she?"

"You'd never believe me if I told you."

"Cos I thought she might be the Master, regenerated into female form. Ravens...father?" She offered, unsure what to say but the girl nodded, still near Missy, just out of reach of physical contact, "Your childhood friend, responsible for a number of previous incursions."

"That was fairly quick." The Doctor eyed her.

"We do have files on all our ex-prime ministers. She wasn't even the worst."

"You're kidding." Raven blinked, "someone did worse than enslave the world and kill 1/10 of the population. Damn, you humans really are violent."

"Doctor, there's something nobody's talking about." Osgood began quietly.

"Which is?" He pressed.

"The clouds caused by the exploding Cybermen, they haven't dispersed. They're still there. In fact, they've expanded and are covering almost all the land masses. We're all looking at the graveyards. Maybe we should be looking up? What do you think?"

He blinked, "All of time and space?"

"Sorry?"

"Just something for your bucket list." He shrugged, heading up, pausing a moment to look at Raven seeing she was eying the device on the bench, almost ready to snatch it, "Raven! Coming?"

"Er." She hesitated. If she stayed here then she could have a conversation with Missy, in private with no one understanding their language, and take a look at her phone thingy. Chances are it was isomorphic which meant no one would be able to use it. But also if she stayed and Missy got out (the woman was already shifting through her handcuffs) she would get the blame for helping her. "I'm coming." She decided, quickly following him up and out of the room before Missy could call after her.

~.~

The Doctor and Raven sat in the main cabin of the plane, watching the news reports of the clouds formed by the exploding Cybers, the clouds raining down on the cemeteries, Cybermen rising from them.

"These scenes are being repeated everywhere. Every cemetery, every mortuary, every funeral home, every hospital, the dead are returning to life as Cybermen. We've done heat scans of some of the cemeteries and, in each case only a handful of Cybermen have so far emerged. But every individual burial site is active."

"Active?" Ahmed frowned.

"Hatching." The Doctor corrected.

"More are coming." Kate continued, "Potentially millions."

"So the rain caused all that in just a few hours?" The Indian man followed.

"It wasn't rain, Man Scout." The Doctor shook his head, "It was pollen. Cyber-pollen. Every tiny particle of a Cyberman contains the plans to make another Cyberman. All it has to do is to make a contact with compatible living organic matter and bang! Full conversion. But if they have learned how to convert the dead. That's what she was doing. That's what 3W was for. She creates an all-new paranoia among the super-rich about dying. She exploits the wealth and the mortal remains of selected idiots so she can create a whole new race of Cybermen. Cybermen who can recruit corpses. Throw away your guns, Man Scout, it's all over. How can you win a war against an enemy that can weaponise the dead?"

"They're not attacking, apart from isolated incidents. They're just wandering about."

"They're newborns. Give them time. Why were you there this morning? Why were you already attacking?"

"Been investigating 3W for a while," Kate commented, "then we got a tip-off."

"From a woman with a Scottish accent." Ahmed added.

"Ooh, that's very her," Raven snorted, "always did want an audience."

Missy, as though sensing her daughter was talking about her, stuck her tongue out of the screen.

Still a narcissistic, obsessive, manipulative person. The gender can easily change, but that will not.

"Dead bodies don't have minds, of course," the Doctor frowned, "but she's been upgrading dying minds to a hard drive for a long time. So she upgrades the hardware, and then she updates the software."

"What do you mean, a long time?" Kate frowned, "How long?"

"Well, she likely had a TARDIS somewhere so it is entirely possible she is responsible for the concept of an afterlife.

"Every graveyard on planet Earth is about to burst its banks..." The Doctor remarked standing up and wandering around the room. "I don't like being the president." He complained, "People keep saluting. I'm never going to salute back."

"Do you know, that was always my dad's big ambition, to get you to salute him just once." Kate smiled softly as the Doctor stopped and looked at the portrait of the brigadier.

"He should've asked." The Doctor shrugged, turning and peering out of the window.

"Doctor, what are you looking at?"

"The clouds." He murmured, "Still there. So what else have they got?" He jumped back as a Cyberman appeared in the window hole. "There's a Cyberman out there on the fuselage. But on the plus side, it's not turbulence."

Raven looked up at the commotion, catching sight of the monitors, seeing an empty trolley and the guards gone, Missy free, "Doctor, she's out." She didn't hesitate as she leapt to her feet and ran out the room. She knew Missy would get out, she just hadn't expected it to be quite so quick.

"What?" He cried, checking the screens for himself, and followed her out.

~.~

"Mother!" Raven called and she jumped down the ladder into the cargo hold seeing the room empty, Osgood and the guards gone.

"Coo-ee!" Missy grinned, stepping out from behind the TARDIS. "You are in big trouble young lady!" She planted her hands on her hips.

"Missy..." the Doctor began, moving to her, only to look down at a crunch, finding Osgoods glasses on the ground.

"Oh, she was really scared. It's classic. Have you got any more friends I can play with?" She laughed as the plane swerved, "Ooh, ask me."

"Shut up!" The Doctor snapped, knowing she had harmed, likely killed, Osgood.

"Ask me!" Missy taunted, "Come on, you know you want to. You want to know what my plan is. You'll be surprised. I've got a gift for you. You know, I've been up and down your timeline, meeting all those silly people who died to keep you alive. And you know what I worked out? What you really need."

"For what?"

"To know that you're just like me!" She laughed as the plane swerved even more, the TARDIS phone ringing, "Oh, and now it begins. Doctor, I do believe you're on call. Miss Oswald expects. Who else but the girl who's got your number? Whoops!"

"It was you!" He breathed, Missy had been the random woman in the shop. Missy had given Clara the TARDIS number claiming to be a helpline. "You put us together."

"I kept you together." She smirked, "that advert in the paper in Victorian London that darling Raven figured out for you, no?"

"Why?" Raven asked.

"Cos she's perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled...don't deny it darling," she grinned at Raven, "she's a decent ape, isn't she?" He smile widened as Raven couldn't argue about that.

"I don't understand," Raven shook her head.

"Oh," Missy pouted, "you've been with him far too long, darling. He's wearing off on you. Do you really think I'd force you to deal with those stupid apes he used to take?"

"What?"

"You needed a friend. And you'd go to hell if she asked. And she would. The phone's ringing, Doctor. Can you hear that? Now that is the sound of your chain being yanked. Heel, Doctor!" She mocked, "Help me, Doctor. Help me. Help me, Doctor!"

The Doctor glared as he stumbled over to the TARDIS, answering the phone despite the Cybermen attack on the plane, "Clara?"

"Doctor, I'm with Danny."

"Danny's dead, Clara."

"Not quite. Not yet. But he wants to be. He's a Cyberman." They could hear the woman's breath catch in her throat, "Doctor, Danny's a Cyberman. And he's crying. Doctor, he feels it. He's crying."

"Clara, don't do it." The Doctor earned her, "Just don't do it!"

"It's in his chest. He says it's an inhibitor. It can delete emotion or something."

"I know what it does. If you turn it on he'll become a Cyberman."

"He's already a Cyberman."

"Not yet, he isn't."

"He's hurting because I hurt him and he wants it to stop."

"Stop the pain and he'll kill you!"

"Look, are you going to help me, because I can't do this alone."

"I'm not going to help you commit suicide."

"Look, the TARDIS can home in on this call, right? Either you help me, or you leave me alone." And with that she hung up.

"Doctor!" Kate rushed into the room, "The Cybermen are in. The plane's going down."

"Oh, great." Missy huffed, "It's the daughter one. Do you like her? I like her..." and with that she held up her wrist, showing the black band in it, pressing a button making the plane swerve violently, causing everyone to stumbled, Missy simply holding onto a strap above her head as the Doctor grabbed one himself, if she needed one there must have been a reason...

Missy pressed another button and the cargo door dropped open, grabbing Ravens hand as she stumbled into Osgoods work bench, unable to grab something to hold herself. Kate wasn't quite as lucky as she was sucked out with a scream, her screaming fading into the storm outside.

Raven gasped, watching as Kate faded from view the closer she fell to the ground and then up at Missy, eyes wide, grabbing her hand with her free one, "don't let go." She pleaded.

"I'm not gonna." She looked insulted at the mere thought of putting her in so much danger.

"Why did you do that?" The Doctor shouted over at Missy, "you didn't have to do that!"

"Oh don't be so selfish!" She yelled at him, "I'm gonna miss her too! In fact, you know what? Just for that, we're leaving." She stuck up her nose, calling into her band, "Boys, blow up this plane and, I don't know, Belgium, yeah? Kill some Belgians. Might as well. They're not even French. Byeeee!" She grinned as she and Raven disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving the Doctor struggling to hold on for his life as they reappeared...

And reappeared in a dark space, standing on a balcony of some sort, a man in a grey suit already there.

"See?" Missy beamed at Raven, "nothing to worry about." She lowered Ravens Hood, kissing her forehead as she hugged her, the girl panting heavily, slowly calming from the contact, closing her eyes and hugging her back. "Oh, no, don't cry, darling!" She pulled back, wiping away the tears as Raven sniffled.

"You left me! You chose to die than stay!" She sniffled, "I thought you were dead!"

"Oh, I know. Mummy's sorry. Will you ever forgive me?"

She wiped her eyes for the final time, looking around the place they had ended up at, "where are we?"

"Oh, never mind that!" She waved her off, pressing a button on her wrist and, "check this out!"

And in the dark space before them, a holographic screen of the Doctor falling out of the exploding plane appeared before them. Showing the man, pulling out his key and diving to the TARDIS, aiming and inserting the key in the lock all will falling through the storm and dematerialising.

"Oh!" The man besides them, laughed, "Permission to squeeeee!" He began but Missy aimed her phone at him, disintegrating him.

Raven gasped, "Who was he?"

"Oh that was just Seb. Al interface." She shrugged, "just kept me company but now you're here and we are going to have so much fun!" She giggled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly.

Raven swallowed, closing her eyes and taking a breath. "No."

"No?" Missy looked at her, genuinely confused.

"No, I don't…I can't. I'm not you, I'm me. I'm Raven. I'm not your little mistress of evil. The Doctors shown me the wonders of the universe and I love it. Please don't destroy it."

"I'm not going to destroy the universe." Missy rolled her eyes, "How can I if you won't let me?" She giggled, wrapping her arm around Raven.

She wont destroy the universe, maybe break it a little bit, damage it a lot. She never planned the destroy the entire universe. No one was stupid to destroy the place they lived in. Especially not her, unless she found another nice little universe to live in, just her and Raven. Maybe the Doctor too, it was always fun to torment him.

Missy had brought up the holo-screen again, now showing the Doctor in a local graveyard having traced Clara's call, the woman distraught having broken Danny's inhibitor. An army standing there, awaiting orders.

"Ooh, you'll want to see this!" Missy giggled girlishly, pressing a button on her band and teleporting them away in the same blue light, and into the same graveyard just a couple of feet away, "Ooh, that was brilliant! Oh, I love the telly here, do you remember those things with screens in their tummies?" She nudged Raven.

"Teletubbies." She recalled. She had been much more interested in Scooby Doo.

"Oh, they were delightful to watch, but did you see that? Oh, Clara, you poor thing." Missy mock pouted at the woman, "You must feel like death. Let me pop away the pain." She pulled out her phone like device but Raven whacked it out of her grip, landing on the grass a short distance away. "Oh! We're doing this are we?" Raven just shrugged as stepped closer to the Doctor, "Oh, stop looking all cross-pants." Missy rolled her eyes seeing the Doctor glaring at her, "I'm here to give you a gift. Could you at least try and be excited?"

"What gift?" He eyed her in distrust.

Missy grinned, lifting up her wrist, speaking into her band, "Cyberdears!" All of the Cybermen, besides one, came to attention, "Look at Mummy! Raise your arms." All but one did as told, "Lower your arms. Raise your right. Lower your right. Turn on the spot. There are exits at the front and rear of the aircraft. Please follow the lights up the aisle. You see, Doctor? The power to slaughter whole worlds at a time, then make them do a safety briefing. Everyone who ever lived, man, woman and child, is now at my command. An indestructible army to rage across the universe. The more they kill, the more they recruit. Happy birthday." She smirked as his eyes widened at that little detail. "Oh! It's lucky one of us remembers these things." She sighed heavily, "Happy birthday Mr President." She curtisied, setting her control band on the Doctors wrist.

"Doctor." The Cybermen turned to him, bowing their heads.

"Tiny bit pleased? Oh, go on, crack a smile. I want to see if your eyebrows drop off."

"All of this." The Doctor shook his head, utterly confused, "All of it, just to give me an army?"

"Well, I don't need one, do I?" She countered, "You do. With an army at your fingertips you can help keep Raven safe." She smiled softly at the girl, "she wants to stay with you, so you need to keep her safe."

"I don't want an army!" He yelled her at.

"Yes, you do!" She argued, "You've always wanted one! All those people suffering in the Dalek camps? Now you can save them. All those bad guys winning all the wars? Go and get the good guys back."

"Nobody can have that power." The Doctor glared.

"You will, because you don't have a choice. There's only way you can stop these clouds from opening up and killing all your little pets down here. Conquer the universe, Mr President. Show a bad girl how it's done." She smiled at him, dropping into another curtsy.

"Why are you doing this?" He demanded, "why not give Raven the army?"

"Oh, no," Raven moaned, "don't drag me in this. This is between the two of you. Whatever it is."

She honestly didn't quite understand the pair of them. Were they friends? Enemies? Arch enemies? Frenemies? Best enemies? She didn't know, doubted they even knew. They tried to kill each other every time they saw each other but honestly, they seemed to enjoy it.

"I need you to know we're not so different." Missy remarked, "I need my friend back. Every battle, every war, every invasion. From now on, you decide the outcome. What's the matter, Mr President?" She smirked at him, "Don't you trust yourself?"

He frowned, did he trust himself? He had asked Clara if he was a good man and she said she didn't know. Rusty had called him a good Dalek. Even Danny saw him as only an officer.

"I trust him," Raven stated, stepping and looked between the pair, "I have been in life and death situations multiple times with him- my own fault," she added to Missy whose eyes narrowed at that information, "but not once had he let anything seriously hurt me. I trust that he cares for me without an army. You should too mother."

"Yes..." the Doctor began slowly, very touched at Ravens words. She trusted him. And that's what mattered and...she had said it herself. He remained her of the Master. Maybe they were alike in some ways, but he wasn't not so alike. They weren't that different in retrospect but he wasn't like her enough to need an army. "Raven!" He spun to her, "thank you."

She blinked, giving him a smile, "you're welcome."

"And you!" He pointed at Missy, "thank you so much." He rushed and hugged her returning her hug from earlier, "I really didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you! I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot!"

"Seconded." Raven agreed.

He elected to ignore her, continuing as if she hadn't spoken, "...with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them." He gestured widely back to where Clara stood near Cyber-Danny. "Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise."

"You didn't notice," Raven sighed, "one soldier amongst thousands, only one not obeying orders," she turned to see Danny, his cold face emotionless, putting his arm around Clara as she faced him.

"That man over there!" The Doctor pointed at him, "He will never hurt her! Catch!" He tossed over the wrist controller, Danny catching it without moving.

"No, that's wrong." Missy frowned, "That's impossible."

"The rain will not fall." Danny stated, stomping over.

"Oh? Why won't it?"

"The clouds will burn."

"And who'll burn them?"

"I will burn them."

"How?"

"I will burn."

"One burning Cyberman is hardly going to save the planet." Missy rolled her eyes.

"Correct." Danny inclined his head, lifting the control and speaking, "Attention!" The Cybermen turned to him, "This is not a good day. This is Earth's darkest hour. And look at you miserable lot. We are the Fallen. But today, we shall rise. The army of the dead will save the land of the living. This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic."

"Excuse me?" Missy huffed, hands on her hips

"This is a promise. The promise of a soldier!" He turned to Clara, his voice softening, "You will sleep safe tonight." And started up his boots, rising from the ground with the rest of the Cybers and flew into the clouds, exploding, the clouds disappearing as the sun shone though.

"The clouds have all gone." Clara murmured.

"Yes, burned up." The Doctor agreed, "Totally burnt. Burnt to nothing." He glanced as the woman wiped away at tears, "Sorry."

"10 0 11, 0 by 0 2." Missy called softly.

"Gallifrey's coordinates." Raven looked at her.

"It's returned to it's original location. Didn't you ever think to look? Raven..." she shook her head, "you're cleverer than that."

"You are lying!" The Doctor frowned at her.

"We can...we can go together," she suggested, "just the three of us. You, me and Raven."

"You'd be clapped in irons." He warned, recalling last time she had chosen to die and leave Raven than be his prisoner.

"If you like." She shrugged.

"Seriously?" Raven gaped, "last time you'd rather have died than be his prisoner."

"Times have changed...and I'm sorry."

She scrunched her nose, walking over and standing before her, poking her firmly on the chest, Missy rocking back on her heels, "if you die on me again." She warned, "I'm disowning you."

"Understood." She nodded.

"I'm assuming you'll remember those coordinates?" Clara called, they all looked at her to see she had picked up the device from the ground, holding it up and Missy.

"No." The Doctor shook his head at her, "No, don't you dare. I won't let you!"

"Old friend, is she?" Clara glared at her, hands shaking, tears burning her eyes, "If you have ever let this creature live, everything that happened today, is on you. All of it, on you. And you're not going to let her live again."

"If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me first." Raven stepped between them.

"Fine." Clara determined.

"Could you do it?" Raven eyed her, "could you really kill me and then kill my mother? Could you?"

"Yes!"

"Raven." Missy called softly, her gaze on something past them, a bit to the side, a clear shot of her. Raven spun to face her, trusting the Doctor to calm Clara down and talk her out of it. "Say something nice." She murmured, "please."

"Wha...?"

"Just one little thing? Please?"

She nodded, taking a shaky breath as she held herself tall, "I love you, mummy."

"I love you too, daughter." Missy smiled sadly, reaching up to her bracelet to teleport out, only to be hit by a blast of blue light from behind.

"No!" Raven screamed as her mother vanished, "no! No! NO!" She spun to see a lone Cyberman standing there, its arm out to the side, pointing at something amongst the graves. "NO! That was my mother!" She yelled it at.

"Raven." The Doctor mumbled, wrapping his arms around her chests and she struggled to get free and give the Cyberman a 'piece of her mind', "shh. It's ok."

She sobbed, too upset to fight against his hold as she dropped her feet, "she got out," she assured herself, "she survived. If she could survive everything else in the past this was just too easy."

"Yeah," he nodded, "and next time we'll capture her first, locking in the TARDIS and then stop her plans of world domination."

She sniffled, "I reckon your TARDIS will have a lot of words to say to her. More than she did me."

"Oh, I look forward to it."

"She's ring me later, you know. And we'll have a proper catch up with tea and cake."

"Sounds delicious." He smiled tightly as he held her close as she shook for her lose.

"Doctor!" Clara called, having followed the Cybermans pointing arm, following the woman's voice to find her kneeling before Kate, unconscious but alive.

"She feel out of a plane," the Doctor frowned, no one could survive that, "The Cyberman must have caught her."

"Doctor, she's talking about her dad." Clara murmured.

"Of course." He breathed, looking over at the lone Cyberman, "The Earth's darkest hour and mine. Where else would you be?" He smiled, knowing that it was the Brigadier controlling the metal man and gave him a well earned salute.

The Cyberman nodded his head and it too took to the sky.

~.~

They had left Clara on Earth to mourn Danny, while the Doctor and Raven had gone to search for Gallifrey under Missy's words that it had returned to its original position.

It hadn't.

Gallifrey was still lost to them.

2 weeks later Clara had called the Doctor and the man had gone to see her in a local cafe. The woman had said that Danny had managed to make it back with use of the control bracelet. His mind had still been connected to the Nethesphere and there had been enough residual energy to bring one person back. Of course, with that news the Doctor thought Clara wished to stay with him and so had lied that they had found Gallifrey, hence why Raven hadn't gone to see her.

But the girl had refused to leave the TARDIS waiting for Missys call.

It still hadn't come.

And Raven was slowly giving up hope that the woman had managed to survive the Cybermans hit.

The Doctor gave her one week until she began to mourn her. And if it turned out Missy was alive and just hadn't told Raven. He would be very close to killing the woman himself. Raven deserved better than that.

He glanced up at her as she sat, silent, in the arm chair, staring down at her lap...at nothing. Waiting for the call that would never come.

He sighed, something needed to be said, anything, just words to end this solemn silence, "hey, Raven!" He called up to her as she turned her head to him, but his words were cut off by a knock on the door.

"Didn't you put us in the vortex?" Raven inquired.

"I thought I did." He frowned, staring at the doors.

Raven straightened in her chair, hopeful, sinking down at the unfamiliar voice.

"Hello? Doctor?" A cheery male voice called through the doors, "You know it can't end like that. Hmm? We need to get this sorted and quickly. She's not all right, you know. And neither are you, nor Raven. Especially Raven. I'm coming in." And just like that the doors burst open and standing before them was a plump man with white hair and beard, dressed in a red suit with a white fur trim, a velvet sack slung over his shoulder, chunky black boots stomping snow inside, "Ah, there you are." He looked at them through his small glasses, "I knew I'd get round to you eventually. Now, stop gawping, and tell me. What do you want for Christmas?"


	16. Last Christmas

The Doctor raced around the console, sending them to Clara. The man, 'Santa' had told them Clara was in need of them and then gone and left in his sleigh. They had followed him and seen him landing on the roof of Clara's apartment building. They'd question his time travel equipment later.

The Doctor raced into onto the roof on Christmas Eve, finding Clara standing there in her nightie. "Clara!" He called to her, Raven slowly making her way out after him, "I want you to step inside the TARDIS. I don't want you to talk, I want you to do as I ask. Please."

"That was good," one of the smaller men, elves, standing near Santa and his reindeers nodded to the TARDIS, "with the box."

"Not often we get upstaged on a rooftop." The second elf agreed.

"Yes, I'm really here." The Doctor continued as Clara stared at him, "I'm back. Now get inside the TARDIS," he waited until Clara disappeared inside, Raven patting her arm and following her before he turned to 'Santa', "I know what this is. I know what's happening, and I know what's at stake."

"I don't think you do, Doctor," the man argued. "But I promise, before this Christmas Day is done, you will be glad of my help."

"Happy Easter." The Doctor glared.

"Ooh, brutal." One elf mock-winced.

"Cool exit line though." The other commented.

"Be sure to save room for a tangerine, Doctor." Santa remarked.

"Nobody likes the tangerines." The Doctor grumbled and he followed in the TARDIS, shutting the door to see Raven seemingly ignoring Clara as she sent them off. Well, Clara had threatened to kill her mother and then also said she would kill her herself just to kill Missy. So, really Raven did have a sort of decent reason to be grumpy with Clara. He just really hoped they wouldn't start fighting, he didn't know if he could handle them fighting.

"I'm really back here." Clara breathed, "This is, this is real, yeah? Doctor? Talk to me. I never thought I was going to see you again. Raven hadn't said a word. What is going on out there? What's happening?" She smiled as the time rotor started, "Oh, that noise. Never knew how much I loved it."

"There's something you have to ask yourself," The Doctor finally spoke to her, "and it's important. Your life may depend on it. Everybody's life. Do you really believe in Santa Claus?"

"Do you know what?" She smirked, "Yeah. Right now, yeah, I think I do."

"Raven?" He glanced at her, as she tracked down this Santa fellow to his original location.

She looked up at him, "if my mother rings me after dealing with him then..." she trailed, she didn't know what she'd do because of Missy hadn't shown or done anything as proof she was alive already why was she going to do anything now? Missy, her mother, was dead. She had died on her.

Again.

~.~

Raven let out a loud snort as they ran into an infirmary at a base in the North Pole, one that was certainly not Santas workshop, a blonde woman on her knees, playing air guitar, four bodies laying on a bed each, a sort of rock over their faces. The woman stopped and screamed at the sight of them, well, more at the noise from Raven making her open her eyes and notice them, really not having expected them.

"We've...we've got ghosts!" The blonde cried, clearly speaking into a comm., "Yeah, yeah. It's a skeleton man and a girl in a nightie and...a teen in fur."

"Doctor?" Clara called, glancing at the four bodies that could well be dead, seeing Raven standing over one, scanning with her sonic cuff.

"No, no, no, you're making me think about them." The blonde woman tightly shut her eyes, hands over her ears, "Don't make me think about them!"

"What are they?" Clara frowned, jumping back as the four slowly sat up in sync.

"Look. Just don't ask, yeah? And don't look. Don't make me think about them."

"Deaf." Raven squinted as she backed away as the four slowly got out of their beds, the rock like substance covering their faces as a slimy texture to it, "Blind. They shouldn't know were here."

"They can only see you, yeah, if you see them." The woman called from behind them, "So just, so just don't look, don't even think about them."

"Oh, telepathic." The Doctor realised, "They can home in on their own image in someone else's brain. Third-party perception. Mind piracy. We're being hacked."

"What does that even mean?" Clara asked.

"The visual input from your optic nerve is being streamed to their brains. Stop broadcasting. Close your eyes." The Doctor instructed the woman doing just that.

"They're still coming, aren't they?" She breathed.

"Well clearly by the fact you asked that then they're still on your mind." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I'm so tempted to slap you."

"Well, you've already threatened to kill me and then kill me mother. Honestly, a slap is pretty weak for you."

"Raven." The Doctor began warningly.

"Plus your boyfriend is still tremendously dead." She smirked as Clara snapped her eyes open to glare at her words, "clearly instead of being selfish he wanted to redeem himself and that boy. The innocent boy he killed when in the army- oh, yeah, I looked that up for you- he brought him back instead. Leaving you all..." her head snapped to the side from the hard slap. Loud and unforgiving, Clara glaring at her, "alone."

"Raven…" the Doctor warned, seeing her looking at Clara with an expression he couldn't place.

Raven advanced on closer, faces mere inches away, "Touch me like that again and you'll find out just how alike my mother and I am," Raven seethed, a large stringing red mark appearing on her cheek.

"Psychopathic spawn." Clara hissed.

"Abso-fucking-lutely."

"Stop it." The Doctor ordered, looking between the pair, ensuring neither would say or do anything else.

Just then the doors opened and three more people came running in with large guns, two women, one older, the other black and young, a man with them.

"Go!" The younger woman ordered, clearing in charge, "run! Now, now, now!"

They ran towards the doors, Clara helping the blonde woman up when a large mass or mucus like spider dropped down from the ceiling, trapping them.

~.~

There was a mess of explosions and the lights flickering off a moment and when they turned back on the outer doors mastered open...a tangerine rolling in?

Followed by toys and robots and rainbows slinkys.

And a reindeer with a glowing red nose outside in the snow, Santa on his back.

"This is my worst nightmare." Raven grumbled, the group standing and watching as Santa hoped of the reindeer and walked inside, rubbing in tubby gut, his elves flanking him, one with a balloon gun and the other with a toy gun.

"Well, now." He smiled at the group, "What seems to be the problem? This is the North Pole. We don't want any trouble here." He sighed as the reindeer made a noise, "Hey, Rudolph." He turned holding up a set of keys, flashing them, making the red nose flash and he fell silent, "easy son! Ok! Sleepy heads. It's Christmas Eve, early to bed!" He clapped and the four patiences slowly moved back into their beds.

"Who the hell are you?" The woman in charge demanded.

"Oh, take a guess." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Go on, push the boat out. Tooth Fairy, maybe? Easter Bunny?"

"Shut your mouth, wise guy," the elf with the balloon gun warned, "or you get yours."

"It's a balloon animal." The second elf rolled his eyes.

"That's a toy gun."

"Yeah, well, at least it's unsuitable for children under four. Parts small enough to swallow, so watch out."

"I see why you hate banter now." Raven remarked to the Doctor, unimpressed with the situation. The longer she was away from the TARDIS meant the more chance she had if missing her mothers call. She was going to call. She was. She had probably just needed up somewhere dangerous and needs to get to safety first before letting her know she was alive.

Yes, yes that was her reasons.

"Now, this is ridiculous." The blonde shook her head, "Am I…am I dreaming?"

"Oh, very good," the Doctor nodded.

The young woman in charge stormed forward to Santa, gun at his belly, "I need to know exactly who you are, and what's happening here."

Santa gently pointed the gun to the side, "Hello, Ashley." He greeted, "Lead scientist on a polar expedition. Oh, that microscope really paid off, didn't it? Now, your mum and dad wanted me to get you a toy one, but sometimes, I take a chance."

"Who are you?" Ashley frowned at him, "why are you dress like that?"

"Why do you think?"

"Come on, this is mental," the girl behind them scoffed. "This is totally not happening."

"I got three words, Shona." Santa turned to her, "Don't make me use 'em."

"What's that then?"

"My. Little. Pony."

"Shut up, you."

"Yeah, I've got loads more, babe."

"I will mark you Santa." The girl, Shona, stepped closer, making clawing motions with her hands.

"Doctor, are you going to explain?" Clara shook at her at the situation, "What is going on?"

"It's an invasion, Miss Oswald." Santa informed her.

"An invasion of what, elves?"

"That's racist!" One of the elves cried.

"Efist!" The second agreed.

"Yeah. Which is a bit hypocritical, from someone of your height."

Santa turned back to Rudolf pulling out a clear specimens container, labelled 16367/KB and tossed it at the Doctor, "You seen them before, Doctor?"

"I've heard of them." He nodded.

"Kantrofarri." Raven stated getting a snap of fingers from Santa.

"Colloquially known as the Dream Crabs." The Doctor added.

"Yeah. Depending on how many of those are already on Earth, the human race may well have seen its last day." Santa remarked, "So, are we going to stand about arguing about whether I'm real or not, or are we going to get busy saving Christmas?"

"Oh, ho, ho!" An elf laughed, "Santa goes badass!"

"He's giving me the feels." His partner grinned.

"Shut up." Santa huffed at them, "That's a, that's a verbal warning. Please, stop it."

~.~

The two Time Lords and Clara stood in the bases laboratory with Ashley, Shona having stayed to interrogate Santa and his elves, while the other two, an older woman named Bellow and man named Albert went to monitor the sleeping victims of the Dream Crabs in the infirmary.

"Is it dead?" Clara asked, leaning over, rubbing her stringing wrist.

"I don't know," the Doctor sighed, "possibly."

"I'm assuming extra-terrestrial." Ashley called, eying the creature in the container.

"What was your first clue?" Raven grumbled.

"Then how can you have heard of these things?"

"Guess." The Doctor sent her a look.

"Because you're extra-terrestrial, too."

"Do you believe that?"

She didn't answer, asking another questions instead, "Why's it called a Dream Crab, for a start?"

"Theorise."

"Because it generates a telepathic field."

"And?"

"Alters perception."

"Meaning?"

"I seem to be doing all the work here." She huffed at them.

"It's a test to see if you're worthy to talk to us," Raven offered, "just passed. Just."

"Meaning we can't trust anything that we see or hear." Clara sighed an explanation to Ashley, seeing Raven wasn't giving her an actually answer.

"Go to the window." The Doctor nodded to it.

"Why?" Ashley frowned.

"Because it gets worse."

She eyed them a moment longer before walking to the window and peeking out at the blue telephone box outside, "What is that?"

"That's how Raven, Clara and I got here."

"In a box?" She raised an eyebrow back at them.

"Technically, in a telephone kiosk."

"Technically, it's a spaceship in disguise," Raven corrected.

"You know what the big problem is in telling fantasy and reality apart?" The Doctor asked her.

"What?" Ashley frowned.

"They're both ridiculous."

"So we don't know what is real and what isn't?" Clara nearly groaned at that.

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded.

"Are we in danger?"

"Oh, we are well way past danger, Clara. If I'm right, and I usually am..."

"Not even close," Raven snorted.

"I'm right this time!" He huffed.

"I will have to agree that we are dying."

"What?" Ashley stiffened at that.

"And you're not scared you dying?" The Doctor eyed Raven.

"No," she stated, "I trust you. I trust you'll stop this. Save us. And we'll survive this." She noticed him smirking at her, "but that doesn't mean I like you!"

"If were dying," Ashley cut in, "Then how do we stay alive?"

"I like you." The Doctor looked at her, "Straight to the point. I want you to show me how you first encountered those creatures, and what happened to those people in the infirmary. I notice you all wear mini-cams, so I assume that there is footage."

"Is it possible I'm about to work with someone who might be a dream?"

"Possible for us too." Raven added.

The worst part was that they had no idea how long they've been dreaming for. It could have been only the short time they had been at the base, or when they first met Santa, maybe even just before that, maybe even after the left Clara at the cafe.

"We have footage on the drives." Ashley told them, "I'll see what I can pull up."

"Ashley, what's this polar base for? Why are you all here?"

"It's a long story." She offered them before stepping out of the room.

Clara sighed as she looked over at Raven, "what you said...about me threatening to kill you and your mother," she shook her head, "unacceptable."

"No, what's unacceptable is you trying to kill my mother." Raven snapped back, "You slapped me. I've got the mark to prove it."

"You threatened it."

"Perhaps," she hissed, "but I also didn't hurt you…and I stopped you thinking about them though, didn't it?"

"What?" Clara blinked.

"Well it was either bring that up or bring up the late Mr Pink. Come on, Clara, you can fool him," she jerked her head to the Doctor who was slowly stepping away, not wanting to get involved in whatever was about to go down, and honestly as much it would likely get worse if they got physical again he didn't want to get involved, "but you can't fool me. Danny Pink didn't make it back did he?"

"Clara...?" The Doctor looked at her for that.

"I lied." She sighed heavily, "I lied, so you'd go home to Gallifrey instead of fussing about me."

"Well he lied about finding Gallifrey so you'd stay with Danny." Raven said. "Mummy lied, Clara. Mummy lied where Gallifrey was." Worst of all, she didn't even hold a grudge against Missy for that. She must have her reasons for lying. She had said she wanted to three to go together, clearly she would have lied to try and make that possible.

"I'm sorry." Clara murmured. "for slapping you and calling you Psychopathic spawn."

Raven nodded curtly, "apology accepted."

"So we're dying, then?" Clara quickly tried to change the subject. She hadn't been expecting an apology from Raven.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded.

"Why?"

"Oh, complicated."

"How long do we have?"

"No idea."

"Doctor, give me something to do."

"Trust nothing." He stated firmly, "Accept nothing you see. Whatever happens, interrogate everything."

"In case it's a lie." She let out a breath, easier said than done.

~.~

The Doctor, Raven and Clara followed Ashley into the control room of the base where Shona was trying to get information from Santa and his elves, seemingly more frustrated than intimidating, "Reindeer can't fly. They just can't."

"No. No, they can't." Santa agreed, "It's a scientific impossibility. That is why I feed mine magic carrots."

"Certainly glad I wasn't in here," Raven commented, seeing the blonde stressing out at the man in red.

"Yeah. I'm trying to talk sense into er, Beardy-Weirdy." Shone glared at the man.

"You don't seem much like a scientist." The Doctor eyed her.

"That's a bit rude, coming from a magician."

"Magician?" Raven smirked, "I like that."

"Why are you out here?" The Doctor asked, "What brought you to the North Pole?"

"Long story, isn't it?" Shona shrugged.

"You missed the killer question."

"Sorry, what?" She blinked.

"Beardy-Weirdy." He spun to Santa, "How do you get all the presents in the sleigh?"

He smirked, "It's bigger on the inside."

"Oh." Raven narrowed her eyes at him. Only Time Lords had bigger in the inside technology. And Santa was no Time Lord.

"Doctor?" Ashley called them over to a series of monitor with the of two crew members.

"Sorry." The older man, Albert, apologised as he gnawed on a turkey leg, "Starving."

"What am I looking at?" The Doctor frowned at the screens.

"Footage from a week ago." Bellows, the older scientist, explained, "A side expedition from our main mission."

"What is your main mission?" Raven squinted at her.

"Long story." She waved her off, getting a narrow of the eyes from Raven. That was the third time now, "Ice cave directly beneath this base. Now, look at what we found." The playing the footage showing someone walking through a cage, a cluster of Dream Crabs hanging amongst the icicles above them, "Dormant at first."

"Until you looked at them too long." The Doctor murmured, "Till you thought about them."

"Exactly."

"Sleeping. Probably been down there for centuries."

"And it wakes up when you think about it?" Clara followed.

"They can detect their own mental picture in any nearby mind."

"That's Bellows' theory." Ashley nodded.

"It's like it responds to the presence of any data concerning itself." Bellows remarked.

"Oh. That was always the legend." The Doctor remarked, "You think about a Dream Crab, a Dream Crab is coming for you."

"This is where it gets really nasty." Albert nodded, pointing at the footage.

"Only now?" Clara glanced at him.

Raven frowned at they watched the screen, a crab descending onto the headcam, the screen going static, "then what?"

Bellows switched the screen to the four sleeping victims in the infirmary, them watching over them.

"They're a bit like Facehuggers, aren't they?" Albert called.

"Face huggers?" Raven glanced at him, "from the movie?" She turned to the Doctor, explaining it to him knowing he wouldn't understand, "there's a really offensive horror movie called Alien. Lucy thought it was good and made us watch it."

"No wonder everyone keeps invading you." The Doctor grumbled.

"It was bloody rude." Raven agreed.

"First, they just slept." Bellows continued, "Couple of days, just lying there."

"And then they became aggressive?"

"If we got close enough, yeah." Ashley confirmed.

"It would take the Dream Crab a little while to take control." The Doctor watched the footage, "Depends how much of the host brain was..."

"Was what?"

"Digested." Raven finished for him.

Ashley grimaced at that. "Are they still alive under those things?"

"Depends what you call alive." The Doctor reasoned.

"Are they suffering?"

"No. No, no. no, no, no." He assured, "The Dream Crab induces a dream state. Keeps you happy and relaxed, in a perfectly realised dream world, as you dissolve. Merciful, I suppose."

"Compared to what?" Albert wondered.

"I don't know, maybe that turkey leg you keep eating," Raven finally snapped as she leaned in the control panel, she had been blocking him out, listening to him gnawing in the turkey in the background. But talking with his mouthful was a disgusting habit not even she could handle.

"Could you rewind for me?" The Doctor asked Bellows, "I'd like to see them dormant again. Clara, could you fetch me the dead one?"

She grimaced, "do I have too?"

"I've got it." Raven sighed, pushing herself up right and leaving the lab.

Clara nodded her thanks, maybe her getting the Dream Crab was her way of apologising.

~.~

Raven stepped into the lab, tensing as she stepped on the glass on the floor, the specimen container smashed from where it had been on the table.

"Oh!" She groaned, pressing on her sonic, following the faint beeping in her ear to the table, getting on her knees as the beeping quickened signalling the Dream Crab was under, when it suddenly quietened making her frown and tap her ear as it messed up.

"Oh, come on," she huffed taking it out and blowing up on, only to looked up sharply as a long drop of muscus fell on her hand.

She had only just looked up to see the Dream Crab descending before her world went black...

_Raven blinked as she awoke in a room that she hadn't seen for centuries, in a bed she hadn't slept in for just as long. She turned her head to the window looking out at the twin suns in the orange sky, the red grass of the estate swaying lightly in the breeze._

_Was that right? It didn't feel right._

_"Saska!" A voice called from the hall outside and seconds later the door slid open and there stood a man with black hair and light eyes, hair around his lip and chin._

_Raven shook her head, "morning, daddy."_

_"How's my darling bird this morning?" He asked her. "Big day tomorrow. Graduation. How can you possibly be 400 already? Seems like only yesterday you were looking into the Untempered Schism."_

_"Feels like a 1000 years to be." She muttered._

_The Master laughed, squeezing her shoulder, "get dressed. You're mothers at work but Thete is coming round. He said he had a graduation present for you."_

_"Alright," Raven eyed him, watching him go, the door sliding shut after him. _

_She stared after him. Why was there a part of her mind that seemed to think she had already graduated already? Of course she hadn't, she only turned 400 a few months ago. She wasn't THAT old._

_She spun to her wardrobe to get dressed, her gaze catching on her mirror again, the words reflecting on the wall behind her. She turned, seeing the wall bare, the words 'Raven, you're dying!' Only on the mirror._

_Raven walked down the stairs of Oakdown, the family estate, the best red grass on the planet, and into the large spacious living room where the Master sat in a comfy chair, a series of wires and metal set up before him._

_She smiled, it was a small test that wannabe pilots had to complete before they could go off world. A small engine that they had a week to put together and figure out what kind of craft it came from. If they didn't complete it they couldn't go off world in shuttles or TARDISes, if they were even allowed to be a pilot. Pilots had to know how all types of crafts and ships functioned, how to fly them and how to fix them in emergencies. _

_Some said it was tough and others said it was easy._

_She had done it in a day, handing it in completed and working hours before the graduations ceremony much to the shock of everyone who had been there and watched her hand it over. Most people managed to hand it in a few days before the deadline._

_She frowned, no she hadn't done it in a day because it hadn't even been started yet. Where were these thoughts coming from?_

_"Ah!" The Master grinned and looked up as she entered, "there you are. These came for you to complete. I doubt you'll have any difficulty." He smiled at her, "what's the fancy robes for?"_

_She glanced down at her clothing. It really wasn't anything special, a simple long sleeved red robe reaching her shins with brown boots underneath._

_"Daddy..." she began, unsure what to tell him. Something wasn't right. It was like this wasn't real. But of course it was. But she had memories of a future that hadn't happened yet. Memories that seemed so real._

_His smiled faltered at her face, "Saska, what's wrong?"_

_She swallowed, opening her mouth to tell him when there was a knock at the door._

_"Oh, that'll be Thete now. If you ever want him to arrive in time, tell him to come earlier." He stood and moved to the door, "did you know he was even late to his own wedding. And yet he is still married." He chuckled. "Theta!" He greeted the young man at the door._

_Raven blinked at the Doctor before them. Not her Doctor, he was old and grey, the man before them was young with blonde hair and brown eyes and really quite large ears._

_"Hello," he returned, quickly walking past him and over to Raven, taking her hands in his and looking at her, "Raven, it's a dream. This is all just a dream, and its killing you."_

_"I...I know." She breathed, glancing over his shoulder to her father at the door but he had gone and moved back to her engine challenge, looking at each piece with a frown, seemingly unaware they were even in the room. "I..." she blinked as she realised now she dreaming but that didn't make sense as to why the Doctor knew this was a dream, "Doctor, how are you here?"_

_"There was only one way to get to you," he shrugged, "I'm dying too."_

_Her eyes widened at that, before she slapped him on the arm, "why would you do that?" She huffed. "Of all the stupid...!"_

_"Raven!" Her cut her off, both hands on her shoulders, "you have to wake up."_

_"I don't know how!"_

_He shook his head, solemn, "yes, you do," he argued quietly, "you just don't want to."_

_She looked down at his words as he released her shoulders and took her hands in his again, he was right, she knew it, "he's here," she murmured, "he is here and alive and never ran off after you and there's no drums. He is just my daddy."_

_This was Gallifrey. The Master never went off world, never had to drums planted in his head, he had never gone mad, he was just her dad. A great dad, at that. Why would she want to wake up into a world where he was gone, possibly dead, the real world where they couldn't find Gallifrey, where home was lost?_

_"I know." He pulled her close, hugging her, something he didn't do as he wasn't a hugger in this body but she needed the physical contact now more than ever._

"_This is home. I want to stay."_

"_Stay and you'll die."_

_She had spent years thinking her dad was dead, angry he had abandoned her twice for selfish reasoned, but then they saved Gallifrey and she hoped he had survived and he did._

_And they had found Missy, but the woman had died again._

_"My happiness if very important to him," she murmured, pulling back slightly to look at him, but still on his embrace, "he only ever wanted me to be happy and safe." She swallowed as she glanced at him, "I am safe and happy out there with you." Her eyes widened at her words, "don't get cocky with that."_

_He smiled lightly at her, "try to push your way back to reality. Accept this isn't real and try. Raven, please."_

_She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut to concentrate..._

Back in the lab, Clara jerked back as the pair of Time Lords sat up sharply and suddenly with a gasp for air, the Dream Crabs fall in if their faces, twisting and withering.

"You ok?" The Doctor glanced at Raven as she coughed, noticing Ashley used a pair of tongs to place the lump of crab in a jar as Shona swept up the remains.

She nodded slowly, rubbing the side of her head from the lingering pain, like an ice cream pain, brain freeze. She turned to look at him, "you'd better not get cocky with what I said before about you getting me out of death with seconds left."

"It's becoming a habit you, isn't it?" He agreed. For someone so scared of dying she did get close to dying far too often.

"So these creatures," Bellows began, "when their feeding goes wrong, they die?"

"The carnivore's hazard." The Doctor nodded jumping to his feet and helping Raven up, "Food has teeth too. You sure you're alright?"

"There's a little bit of pain, just there," she tapped her head, "like brain freeze from ice cream."

"Is it the ice cream pain?" Shona called, "Just here? Cos I've got that."

"It's the cold, I think." Bellows shrugged, "Some sort of reaction."

"But only on one side," the Doctor frowned at them, "just that spot there. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Well, we've all got it." Albert shrugged.

"So why do we all have that pain?" Clara wondered, she too could feel it.

"Theorise." He looked at her.

"I was in my flat, dreaming." She began, "and then a noise of the roof woke me up..."

"And have you ever woken up from a dream and discovered that you're still dreaming? Dreams within dreams. Dream states nested inside each other. All perfectly possible, especially when we are dealing with creatures who have weaponised our dreams against us."

"I don't know about anybody else, but I'm pretty certain I'm awake right now." Bellows determined.

"Which is odd, when you think about it." The Doctor added.

"Odd?" Ashley frowned at him.

"Impossible, in fact. How can any of us be awake?"

"I don't understand." Shona shook her head.

"Oh god." Raven breathed, catching on to his thoughts.

"Exactly!" He snapped his fingers at her, "Remember how we all first met, in the infirmary?" He looked at the humans, "All those creatures coming down from the ceiling, attacking us. We never stood a chance. How did we survive that?"

"Well, we, we were rescued." Shona shrugged.

"Yeah, we were rescued. And who was it that rescued us?"

~.~

The Doctor strode into the control room to find Santa standing with his elves in the phone, walking away for privacy, as the Doctor headed four the four manuals. "The Helman-Ziegler test." He started, "The only reliable dream test that I know. Your base manual." He handed one to each of the four crew members, "I take it none of you have memorised this."

"Oh. I haven't," Shona admitted, "I haven't read it."

"These books should be identical in the real world. But as they don't exist in your memory, in a dream, they can't be. Agreed? Clara. Give me any two digit number."

"57." She called.

"All right, all of you, turn to page 57 and look at the very first word. Right, when I point at you."

He pointed at Ashley first the woman frowning but reading the word, "isotope."

And then at Bellow, next in line, "Extremely."

Next was Albert, "Inside."

"Chocolate." Shona finished, complaining at her word, "Why did I get chocolate? What's that about?"

"This can't be right." Albert frowned, "We must have got it wrong, that's all."

"Well, we'll do it again." The Doctor nodded, "Raven, number?"

"24." She shrugged, the first number in her head.

Ashley went first again, "We."

"Are." Bellows frowned.

"All." Third was Albert again.

"Shona?" Raven glanced at her as she was silent.

The woman swallowed at her word, "dead."

"Since the attack in the infirmary, nothing has been real?" Ashley gaped at thought.

"The attack is still going on." The Doctor realised. "This is it!"

"We've been dreaming since then?" Albert gasped.

"Oh, for Easter's sake!" Santa rolled his eyes as he walked over to them, "Of course you've been dreaming. Haven't you been paying attention?"

"Rudolph." One elf added, "Did you see the nose?"

"The North Pole?" The second scoffed, "Come on, with stripes?"

"This..."

"Is..."

"A dream!" The trio finished.

"How much more obvious do you want me to make it?" Santa asked them, "Because I can text the Easter Bunny, you know."

"Seriously?" Raven eyed him, "You're trying to help?"

"As you stand here, chatting, chatting, your lives are ending. Unless you wake up, unless you free yourselves from these dreadful creatures, they're, they're going to destroy you."

"You're a dream who's trying to save us?" Shona shook her head at that.

"Shona, sweetheart," he smiled at her, "I'm Santa Claus. I think you just defined me."

"This makes perfect sense." The Doctor agreed, "The Dream Crab tries to make the dream as real as possible to trap you inside it. It creates dreams within dreams so you can never be sure if you are really awake. But your brain knows something is wrong. Your subconscious fights back. This is your mind trying to tell you this isn't real."

"So it gives you me." Santa agreed, "Sweet Papa Chrimbo."

"It gives you comedy elves," one elf nodded, "flying reindeer."

"A time-travelling scientist dressed as a magician." Santa smirked.

"And the bitter bird under his care."

"Oi!" Raven glared, "I have good reason to be bitter!"

They ignored her, "Living in a phone box."

"It's a spaceship in disguise." The Doctor corrected.

"You see how none of this makes any sense?" Santa asked.

"Shut up, Santa."

"I have watched over you all your lives. I've taken care of you from Christmas to Christmas."

"I don't actually celebrate Christmas," Raven pointed out, "so..."

"I've still been watching over you."

"But you're not real." Bellows called.

"And yet that never stopped me." He smiled, "All of you, come near. Come here, come on. Join hands."

"Look." The Doctor shook his head as the man tried to gather them in a close circle, "No. Look, we don't need all this touchy-feely stuff."

"Shut up, Doctor. Join hands. Come on, concentrate."

"Why?" Bellows hesitated.

"You are deep inside this dream, all right, and it is a shared mental state, so it is drawing power from the multi-consciousness gestalt which has now formed telepathically and..."

"You're Santa Claus, are you really going to do the science?" Raven raised an eyebrow at him.

"All right. As the Doctor might say," Santa cleared his throat, mimicking a Scottish accent, "Oh, it's all a bit dreamy-weamy."

"That did sound a lot like you." Raven had to agree, the Doctor groaning.

"Why don't you just go and, and make a naughty list?" The Doctor huffed.

"I have, mate," Santa smirked, "and you're on it."

"Don't give me that. Look, you're supposed to be warm and friendly and cheerful."

"Oh, yeah. Well, look at your great bedside manner."

"Don't be so hostile."

"Will you two shut it!" Raven snapped, rubbing her head at the worsening pain, "we are dying. And right now you are wasting time."

"Yeah," Ashley agreed, "right now I have an alien life form wrapped around my face, and apparently it's digesting my brain. When you speak, how do I know it's not the Dream Crab?"

"Ooo, good question." Santa grinned at her, "Spoken like a scientist."

"Can I put it another way?" Clara cut in, "Why would the part of our brain that is trying to keep all of us alive choose you for a face?"

"Is anyone else asking that?" Santa glanced at them all.

"Yeah, yeah." Shona nodded her head, "Yeah. All of us. All of us. Why you?"

"Why me?" He repeated, "It's the North Pole, it's Christmas Day. You're dying. Who you gonna call? Just one last time, huh? One last Christmas, as if your lives depended on it. Please! Ho, ho, ho. Believe in Santa."

The Doctor sighed as the humans formed a circle, "I'm not very good with this holdy-hand thing."

"Tough." Clara told him, taking Ravens hand.

"Oh, I don't want your human diseases." The girl moaned, the Doctor taking her other hand, as Shona took his other as Clara took Ashley's.

"Shut up."

"This is very Christmassy, isn't it?" The Doctor huffed.

"Ok, so what do we...?" Ashley turned to Santa only to see he and the elves had gone.

"Where did he go?" Bellows looked around, as though expecting him to jump out and scare them awake.

"We're waking up." The Doctor realised. "That part of the dream is over. We're on our own now."

"Well, then." Albert huffed. "What do we do?"

"That pain in your head. Make it worse. Head towards it."

"So when we wake up, what do we expect?" Ashley frowned.

"Only a few moments will have passed at the most. The attack is still in progress."

"I'm scared." Shona breathed.

"Congratulations. That means you're not an idiot."

"Good luck." Ashley nodded to her crew, "Stay calm. And God bless us, every one."

They closed their eyes, focusing on the pain, as the world went white around them...

~.~

Raven sat up with a sharp gasp, rolling onto her side away from the Dream Crab as it fell from her face, the crew, Clara and the Doctor waking up as well.

"Run!" The Doctor grabbed Ravens hand pulling her to her feet and after him, ushering Clara and the crew outside of the infirmary.

The four victims from early still had their Crabs attached, withering in pain, giving them their chance to run.

Raven screamed as one of the victims grazed her arm, trying to grab it but missed by centimetres.

"Out, out, now!" Ashley yelled her order, "NOW!" She backed away with her gun, slamming the doors behind her once everyone was safe and out in the corridor.

"Everyone all right?" The Doctor asked everyone as they nodded, "Good. Bye." And with that stalked off down the corridor.

Raven rolled her eyes, huffing and quickly jogged to catch up with him.

"Sorry," Clara winced an apology to the crew, "I'll just go and..." she too ran to catch up.

"No need for chatting," the Doctor muttered, "you'll only get attached. This isn't Facebook." He shoved open the outer door and headed through the snow to the TARDIS.

"Er, what about the Dream Crabs?" Clara called.

"Oh, they're fine."

"And the people that they're eating?"

"Beyond help."

"Doctor, the others are still in danger." Raven reminded him.

"Only if they're stupid. There are polar bears on this ice cap. Am I supposed to do something about that, too?" He glanced at her, "since when did you care?"

"There are still Dream Crabs on Earth." She added, avoiding his question.

"There are lots of dangerous things on this funny little planet, most of which you eat. I'm the Doctor, not your mam."

"Doctor?" Clara paused in the snow as a thought hit her, "If Santa was only in the dream, why was he on my roof?"

"And why only 4 manuals if there was 8 crew?" Raven agreed, "4 we spoke to and 4 patients."

The Doctor blinked, realising that if Santa had been on Clara's roof then the Dream Crabs had been active then as well. He huffed in frustration running back to the base, "Do you know what I hate about the obvious?"

"What?" Clara shook her head as she and Raven followed.

"Missing it!"

"Bit like being wrong in public?" Raven smirked.

"As you were." The Doctor announced as the skidded into the control room where the four stood before the monitors, the sleeping victims now back in bed, "No saluting. Are you the same people as before?"

"Of course they are." Clara sent him an odd look for that.

"Oh, sorry, I deleted you."

"Well, that's not a very nice attitude, is it?" Shona frowned at him.

"You've got four manuals, yeah?" She looked at them.

"Yes, why?" Ashley nodded.

"One for each of you here."

"One each, yes. What's the problem?"

"Well, the problem is, you can't see the problem." The Doctor huffed, "For instance, you, gobby one." He tossed a manual at Shona.

"I have a name, actually." She glared.

"Doesn't matter." He waved her off, "I don't need it. When we first met you in the infirmary, what were you doing?"

She shrugged, "It's a long story."

"Uptight boss one." He tossed another manual at Ashley, "What is the primary mission of this polar base?"

"It's a long story." She blinked.

"You," he tossed one to Bellows, "What brings you to the North Pole at your age?"

"It's a long..." she trailed, about to repeat the same words as Shona and Ashley.

"Story?" Raven guessed.

"Ok," Clara frowned, "why are they all giving the same answer, because that is a tiny bit freaky."

"It is." She agreed, "but why did we come here?"

"It's a long story." She answered, blinking at the words from her mouth, "that is really freaky."

"Dreams." The Doctor sighed, "They're funny. Ha, ha, ha. They're disjointed. They're, they're silly. They're full of gaps. But you don't notice, because the dream protects itself. Stops you asking the right questions. For example, why do you have four manuals, one each, when you have a crew of eight? Or did you forget about your friends in the infirmary here?"

"But we woke up." Albert insisted.

"Dreams within dreams," Raven mumbled.

"I warned you." The Doctor remarked.

"This isn't a dream." Bellows argued, "I know it isn't."

"No one knows they're not dreaming. Not one of us. Not ever. Not for one single moment of our lives. Clara? Page number. Make it a good one."

"12." Clara said, the crew opening to that page.

"Very." Ashley read.

"Very." Albert nodded.

"Very." And Bellows.

Shona swallowed, "Dead."

"And who's going to be the first to admit it?" Raven glared at them.

"Admit what?" Ashley frowned.

"The pain," she tapped her head, "its still there, isn't it?"

"Actually, I think it's getting worse." Shona admitted.

"Yes, there is an alien organism in your brain, eating it." The Doctor remarked, "Of course it's getting worse."

"How close are we to dying?" Raven wondered.

"Doctor?" Clara called, her gaze on the monitors behind them, "What are they doing?"

They turned to see the four victims were now sitting up on their beds.

"Factually, getting up." The Doctor frowned, "Significantly, sensing the endgame."

"How?" Clara asked.

"I don't understand." Ashley shook her head.

Well, look at them. Go on. Look at them. Look at them properly. Look who they are. They're you. The Sleepers are you."

"How can they be us?" Shona whispered, seeing that on one of them there was her name tag on their chest.

"Because we're dreaming, all of us. This base isn't real. None of us are actually standing in the room. Raven and I are probably asleep in the TARDIS. Clara, you must be in bed. God knows where the rest of you are, probably scattered all over the world. But wherever you are, the Dream Crabs have got us, and we're all being networked into the same nightmare."

"What are they doing?" Bellows frowned as the victims as they got out of bed and walked towards the camera.

"It's your subconscious again." The Doctor explained, "The Sleepers represent the part of your mind that's already surrendered to the attack. These are dream images of what's coming to kill you."

"That's me?" Albert leaned closer, "That's actually me?"

"No, it's a metaphorical construct representing a psychic attack within a shared dreamscape." Raven rolled her eyes, "Please try to keep up."

"But it's me."

"Don't get too close." The Doctor warned.

"Why?" He asked, hand resting on the screen.

"Because this is a nightmare."

"The laws of physics don't..." Raven trailed as Albert cried and yelled as his doubles hand reached out and pulled him into the screen, "apply." She finished quietly as they stared in silence as the man was pulled into the screen. "They're coming though!" Raven cried as a hand reached out.

"Out!" The Doctor ordered, taking Raven and Clara's hands in each his own, "Outside, now! Run, run, run, run! Run!" He lead them out the room, the three remaining crew following him out the room as the victims following, he grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher but it had no effect on them, "Clara, run. Run, all of you, run. Run!"

"We'll freeze to death out here!" Bellows cried as they ran outside into the snow.

"But it, it's just a dream." Shona shook her head.

"This dream just killed your friend." The Doctor looked at her, serious, "Start taking it seriously."

"Where's Albert? Where's the professor?"

"He probably just woke up somewhere in the real world, dead. If we don't wake up now, we'll do the same."

"But how?" Clara asked.

"I don't know."

Raven jumped back as the sleeping victims thumbed on the door, the Doctor quickly deadlocking it with the sonic, "are we going to die?" She whispered.

The Doctor set his jaw as dents formed in the metal, "The TARDIS! Come on! Come on!"

"Doctor, it's not the real TARDIS." Clara pointed out.

"Well, let's hope that we dreamed it really well, then."

They paused as the TARDIS doors opened as doubles of the Doctor, Raven and Clara stepped out, each with a Dream Crab in their face.

"It's us." Clara breathed as they backed away.

"Of course it's us. We're dreaming too." The Doctor reasoned.

"Oh, my God!" Shona gasped as the door was thrown off its hinges and more sleeping victims stepped out, far more than the four that had been in the base.

"How is that possible?" Bellows shook her head, unable to warp her mind around how many there was slowly beginning to surround them, "How can there be so many?"

"The logic of a nightmare." The Doctor murmured.

"So tell us how to wake up." Shona shouted, "Because you're always talking like you're so clever, going on and on. So tell us what to do!"

"We have to leave this place." The Doctor determined.

"Leave it?"

"How?" Bellows cried.

"Use your imagination."

"Excuse me?"

"Dream yourselves home."

"But how?"

"Come on, it's Christmas, the North Pole. Who you gonna call?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Raven groaned hearing the jingling and Santas sleigh, the man flying in the sky above them, Rudolf leading the way.

"Hyah!" He landed a short distance away, "Whoa! Whoa. Ah. Get in the sleigh." He instructed the group.

The groups didn't hesitate to climb aboard, the Doctor seating next to Santa, the humans and Raven clambering in the back of the wooden sleigh.

"Fortunately, I know all your home addresses." Santa cheered, snapping the reins, sending them into the sky with a, "Yah!"

"So what happens now?" Clara shouted over the wind, "This is us just waking up, right?"

"Could be." The Doctor nodded, "Well, I hope so. Waking up or..."

"Or?"

"Oh don't say it!" Raven whined, "if you say it then it'll happen."

"Just focus on this." The Doctor agreed, glancing back at them, "Do you believe in Santa Claus?"

"I've always believed in Santa Claus." Clara smiled, "But he looks a little different to me." She wrapped we arms around the mans neck, chin resting on his shoulder, "Look!" She pointed down as they flew over the River Thames.

"Hey. You want to take the reins, Doctor?" Santa asked.

"You're a dream construct, currently representing either my recovering or expiring mind." The Doctor deadpanned.

"Yes, but do you want a go?"

"Yeah. All right." He grinned taking the offered reins as they flew over St Paul's cathedral, getting dangerously close to the houses below. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." And pulled them back up by Santas instructions, "Look at me. Look. Look at me!" They flew over the Houses of Parliament as Big Ben chimed midnight and they climbed higher into the clouds, "Look at me! I'm riding a sleigh." He cheered, "I'm riding a sleigh. Yippee ai-yay!" He almost stood up, would have done had Raven not moved to rest her chin in his shoulder, "Oh. Maybe you could..." he handed the reins back to Santa, sheepish.

"I work in a shop." Shona said suddenly.

"I'm sorry?" Ashley blinked at her.

"I thought I was a scientist. That's rubbish."

"Finally, something that makes sense." Bellows smirked.

"You're horrible, you."

"Perfume." Ashley stated.

"What?" This time Shona blinked at her.

"I'm an account manager for perfume." She furrowed her brows, "Does this mean we're waking up?"

"Possibly." The Doctor nodded, "With any luck, we'll all wake up in our proper times and places."

"Proper times?" Clara frowned.

"We could be from different time zone," Raven shrugged as she leaned back against the side of the sleigh, enjoying the wind blowing on her face, "this is a dream, and time travel is possibly in both reality and dreams."

"We might not know each other?" Shona almost pouted at that, "Not any of us?"

"No, possibly not." Ashley murmured.

"Well, you know what we should do? We should swap numbers. We should have a reunion."

"Bellows!" Ashley yelled suddenly as the woman vanished.

"She's just woken up," Raven rolled her eyes.

"Er, now I'm pretty sure I can remember my number," Shona frowned, "so if you memorise it, then you text me, we can go for a curry and..."

"The chances of you remembering any of this are very slim." The Doctor cut her off.

"Well, don't say that." She huffed, "We'll remember, won't we, Ashley? Ashley?" She stared at where the woman had been sat to find her gone too. "Am I next? Is it me now?"

"Shona, you're going home." Clara smiled at her, "You're surviving."

"Do you want to hang out sometime?" Shona asked her, "We can just hang out."

"Sure."

"Santa, can I stay a bit longer?" She asked only to vanish.

"It's a pity we have to wake up, really." Clara sighed, "It's not really something we do every day, is it?"

"No, no." Santa agreed, "Strictly once a year."

"We stay, we die, Clara." The Doctor stated.

"You're always such a downer, Doctor." Clara teased, blinking as the man disappeared.

"Can I have a go?" Raven asked suddenly, "with the reins," she clambered over to take the now vacant spot the Doctor had been in, "please. I'll be careful."

"You really should be waking up too, both of you." He warned but handed the reins to Raven.

"After Clara." She grinned as she flew them beneath the cloud layer.

"Just a little longer." She smiled.

"Why?" Santa glanced back at her.

"Every Christmas is last Christmas." She smiled sadly.

"Seriously, Clara," Raven glanced back at her as they flew before the full moon, "either wake yourself up or I'll do it for you."

"God your even worse of a drowner than the Doctor," she teased.

"I'm bitter," she corrected with a huff.

Clara rolled her eyes as she too vanished.

"Raven..." Santa sent her a look.

"I know. I know," she rolled her eyes, handing him the reins.

~.~

Raven gasped for air, as the Dream Crab fell off her face as she laid in her back on the edge of an active volcano on an alien planet. The planet had been attacked with a bomb, all that was left was the erupting volcanoes. It was such a Master thing to do that she and the Doctor had gone to see if it had been Missy behind it to get their attention and then of course the Dream Crabs had gotten them.

"Ok," she inhaled sharply, "definitely awake now."

"Pain gone?" The Doctor glanced at her.

"Don't feel it."

"Clara!" He called, helping her to her feet and rushing inside the TARDIS behind, piloting them to the woman's flat...when the phone rang, "I'll get Clara. You get that."

"Yeah," she nodded slowly as he ran out heading towards Clara's apartment building as she picked up the phone not wanting to get their hopes up. But still, not many had their number.

Please.

"Hello?" She called quietly.

"Ah! There's my darling girl!"

She felt her smile naturally form at that, "not dead then."

"Oh, of course not. I promise you didn't I?"

"Do you have any idea how long it had been?" She hissed, glancing to the doors. Clara currently thought Missy was dead, and for her safety, well, for each of their own safety, she didn't want Clara to know she was alive. Yet, maybe after she got over mourning Danny.

"Couple of days?" Missy asked, her cheery voice fading, likely noticing Ravens unimpressed tone at having not be in on her secret escape plan.

"No." She shook her head. After so many dreams within dreams she wasn't even sure herself of how long it had been anymore. They had just left the woman when they first met Santa and followed him to Clara's roof, but that had been a dream, and before that they had gone to look for Missy themselves, but she wasn't sure for how long until the crabs got them, "how did you do it anyway?" She asked, twirling her finger around the cord, "that Cyberman hit you. I saw it hit you."

"It was all part of the plan, Saska." Missy assured her.

Raven stayed silent as she avoided the question.

"How about I tell you over tea and cake?" Missy suggested, "some shopping and some world domin..." she trailed, "no, not world domination, you no longer like that. So, what do you say darling?"

She bit her lip as the door burst open and Clara ran in, beaming, the Doctor following with a small bemused smile, "gotta go, see you soon. Bye." And quickly hung up.

"Hey, who was that?" Clara asked, nudging Raven slightly as the Doctor sent them onto the vortex.

"Oh, just Marilyn Monroe." She shrugged her off, "she's still waiting for her husband to come back."

"That was an accident!" The Doctor huffed, knowing it wasn't actually Marilyn, he had blocked all calls from her.

It didn't matter though, Raven was finally starting to smile.

That was certainly something.

And he'd be damned if it disappeared any time soon.


	17. The magicians apprentice

Raven bit her lip as she looked down the handheld device in Missy's hand as they sat at a table in a little patio cafe, on Earth, on one of the random warmer climates. Tenerife she believed they were. It was a very nice little cafe, very good cakes which Missy had cut her off from anymore after her third slice.

She had left the TARDIS to see the woman, only been a couple of days before the Sisterhood of Karn had tracked them down and gave them the Doctors confession dial.

That itself was bad news.

When Raven had left the Doctor, telling him exactly who she was going to see and unsure when she's be back, but for gods sake stop worrying about her. He had been going to New Earth, he had said something about pears and a factory, she hadn't really been listening.

Missy changed very quickly having his confession dial in her possession and tried to find the Doctor demanding answers.

The only reason a Time Lord would send out their confession dial was because they knew they were going to die.

They had looked everywhere through time and space for him.

The beginning, the end, mostly Earth, a few human colonies. But now she was out of ideas. They both were, they couldn't get a single trace on him, like he was almost purposely hiding from them.

Raven had given the suggestion to contact Clara to see if she could work it out. The human companions always had a special relationship with the Doctor.

Missy had actually yelled at that. How she thought a human would know the Doctor better. But after another week of no luck finding him she eventually agreed.

But of course she wasn't going in easy and simply calling the woman.

Instead she had frozen the airplanes flying over the British Isles in mid-air. Waiting for the news to reach UNIT who would reach for Clara to get the Doctor there. Of course, he wouldn't come.

"Hey!" She pouted as Missy took the communicator from her as she read the tweets #theplaneshavestopped.

"Use that one." Missy handed Raven her previous communicator, the one she had used to kill Osgood and everyone else.

She grumbled, scrolling back though the tweets. Most people were blaming the government, a few conspiracy theorists, and the odd few humans blaming aliens, which, for once, they were in the right to blame.

"Keep it." Missy added, "in case anyone ever irritates you."

Raven looked over at her for that, "I'm not using it for murder."

"Little miss boring."

She smirked, "what are you doing?" She nodded to the phone as she typed away.

"Texting," she shrugged, turning to screen to show the words, 'you're so fine...' being sent, "through to UNITs Doctor channel. The man doesn't know it even exists."

"It's that bloody song isn't it?" She grumbled. Missy seemed to like the 'hey Mickey!' song and changed the words to hey Missy! It was annoying her, "it's almost as back as Voodoo Child." She huffed.

"They're funky songs. Even you used to like it."

"You learn to hate it when you listen to it on a loop for an entire year." She glared.

"Well, excuse me if the radio stations weren't on," Missy lifted her chin up, sending more lyrics.

"Do I need to remind you why they weren't?" Raven deadpanned.

"Hush!" Missy held up a finger, pointing at her, "this is turning into a vocal call." She turned her screen lengthways, pressing a button as she got through to UNIT, the three women standing before her, Kate, Clara and other woman who must be Osgoods replacement, "Today, I shall be talking to you out of the square window!"

"What the hell was that?" Kate gasped from the phone, "How did she do that?"

"That was not necessary." Raven shook her head. Only she would project her face out to scare the humans back in London. Always so melodramatic.

"Dunno." The unknown woman frowned, "Some sort of psychic projection, or something."

"Oh great, thanks." Kate grumbled at her uncertainty.

"Ok, cutting to the chase." Missy cut the humans off. "Not dead, back, big surprise, never mind. I'm in a lovely little square in one of your, oh, I don't know, hot countries, having a lovely time with my darling daughter." She grinned as Raven groaned, "There's a light breeze coming from the east, this coffee is a buzz-monster in my brain," Raven snatched the small coffee cup out of her reach. It was bad enough when she had coffee, but her mother was far worse, and she had had quite a few expressos today, "and I'm going to need 8 snipers."

"8 what?"

"3 for each heart, and 2 for my brain stem. You'll have to switch me off fast, before I can regenerate. How fast can you get here? Ooh, I'll need to arrange you a flight corridor." She licked her fingers before typing away.

"Why do you need snipers?" Kate frowned.

"For Clara to feel safe." Raven remarked moving round to appear in the screen, "is 4 o'clock good for you? It is actually important, Clara."

~.~

Raven glanced up as a clock stuck 4. UNIT officers moving in to surround them, in the rooftops, snipers aimed at Missy, 6 red lasers on her front. The woman pulled out a small compact mirror to check the other 2 aimed at her brain stem.

"Before you say anything I just want to remind you that she IS my mother and I had already spent centuries of her having stubbornly abandoned me!" Raven announced as a black car pulled up and Clara stepped out, joining them at the table.

"Well, go on then," Missy gestured to the chair opposite her, next to Raven, as Clara sat in silence, "How's your boyfriend? Still tremendously dead, I expect."

"Mother," Raven mumbled, glancing around at the men in black as they scattered around them.

Clara set her jaw at that, "Still dead, yeah. How come you're still alive?"

She wasn't that surprised, she had sort of guessed Missy had survived considering how after dealing with the Dream Crabs Raven had been on the phone and suddenly hung up as she had entered, actually very different and mysterious, a small smile creeping on her lips. Raven never smiled.

"Death is for other people, dear." Missy waved her off, "and besides, I promised Raven."

"She said you abandoned her on the valiant, leaving her to be the Doctors prisoner while you refused to regenerate. She ran away."

"Well you know how men are like," Missy shrugged.

"And then you faked your death back in the graveyard and Raven isn't that good of an actress to fake grieving you having known your death was fake so clearly, you didn't tell her that you had survived until Christmas."

"Clara!" Raven gasped at her. The woman shrugging, not letting Missy win this conversation.

"Would you like to sit in the shade? I know how you humans burn." Missy glared, jaw set, as she used her communicator to direct a plane over them, blocking the sun leaving them sitting in the shade, "Better? I expect you've tried to contact him by now. Well, you should know, we can't find him either. No one can."

"That happens, now and then."

"Not like this." Raven shook her head.

Missy sighed, really not happy to let Clara getting involved in official Time Lord business. She set a golden disc in the table before them, decorated in Gallifreyan. "It's a confession dial."

"A what?"

"The Last Will and Testament of the Time Lord known as the Doctor," Raven rolled her eyes, almost like reciting a quote, "to be delivered, according to ancient tradition, to his closest friend, on the eve of his final day."

"And it was sent to you?" Clara frowned at Missy.

"Well of course it was sent to me." The woman huffed. Who else could it have possibly be sent to? "What have you got to do with it? I'm his friend. You're just..."

"I'm just what?"

"Well, you're just the stray dog he picked up."

"I'm the decent ape." She corrected, "Even your daughter said so."

"Because I chose you well for her."

"Right." Clara nodded slowly, not quite sure what that meant but didn't really want to find out either. She could recognise her now. Missy had been the woman in the shop who gave her the TARDIS number, imitating a cocky accent and not dressed like an evil Mary Poppins. "Since when do you care about the Doctor?" She asked.

"Since always." Missy defended, "Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?"

"He's not your friend. You keep trying to kill him."

"He keeps trying to kill me. It's sort of our texting. We've been at it for ages."

"Yes, like when you abandoned me back on Gallifrey as you went chasing him." Raven grumbled.

She had been hearts broken, she had heard the Doctor and stolen a TARDIS and ran off with his granddaughter and the a few days later she heard knews the Master had stolen his own TARDIS. Everyone knew he had gone chasing after the Doctor.

"I said I was sorry, darling!" Missy turned to her.

"Must be love." Clara mumbled.

"Really, Clara." Raven looked unamused.

"Oh, don't be disgusting!" Missy agreed, "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex."

"So the Doctor is your bezzy mate and I'm supposed to believe that you've turned good?"

"Good?" Missy repeated, aiming her communicator.

"No!" Raven cried, nudging Missy's arm as she fired at one of the men in black, missing him and the street lamp besides him disappeared as he looked on in surprise.

"Oh, Raven," Missy nearly whined, "he's married, probably had a family. No, I've not turned good." She glared at Clara, firing at him again before Raven could stop her.

"Mother!" Raven yelled, "everyone here that you kill will only come back at me."

"Then I'll kill them too!" She reasoned.

"I am asking you...no, begging you," she looked at her, hands on the table, desperate to stop her. If the humans saw and heard her able to stop Missy from killing maybe it would help finally earn their trust. Not that she particularly cared. "Please, stop killing them."

Missy looked at her, seeing the desperateness in her eyes and sighed, sliding the phone to Clara as prove she wouldn't kill anyone else.

"You said the Doctor was in danger," Clara began, slowly resting her hands over the phone so she couldn't grab it back.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Make me believe you."

"Was that not enough." She scoffed, nodding to the phone she handed to Clara.

"You can kill another way," Clara waved her off, fully believing that that woman had multiple over weapons in her pockets, "Release the planes."

"The planes are keeping me alive. I mean, there's 8 naughty little snipers ready to kill me."

"Yeah. On my command." Clara nodded, holding up a hand to signal them to be ready to kill.

"Clara..." Raven whispered.

She shook her head, eyes on Missy, she knew if she looked at Raven she wouldn't keep the power, right now she was in charge and she would make sure the pair knew she could easily deal with them, "Your best friend is in danger. The man who had cared for you daughter when no one else did. Looked after her when you couldn't. Show me you care. Make me believe." She held her hand out, handing her the phone again.

Missy sighed, taking it back and releasing the planes from her hold, the sunlight streaming down as the plane above them flew on. "It's only a basic Time Stop. Parlour trick. Couldn't have done anything with them anyway."

"Bit like blood control, really." Raven muttered, recalling the Sycorax invasion a few Christmases ago.

"What does it say?" Clara lowered her hand, speaking of the confession dial sat in the middle of the table.

"What does what say?" Missy blinked.

"His confession."

"It will only open when he's dead."

"Then it won't open, will it?" She determined.

"Question. If the Doctor has one last night to live, if he's certain he's facing the end of his life, where, in all of space and time, would he go?"

"Here." She said, meaning Earth.

"Well, yes, Earth, obviously! But where? When?"

Raven whistled at one of the men, "Brought a laptop?"

"Yes." He hesitated.

"Bring me it."

~.~

Missy and Clara stood behind Raven as she typed away on the laptop looking for anything out of the ordinary from any time zone in the planet, the slightest anomaly or anachronism.

"Ok, so," she glanced behind her, "where do we start?"

"How's a Time Lord supposed to die?" Clara inquired.

"Meditation." Missy answered, "Repentance and acceptance. Contemplation of the absolute."

"Great, thanks. Change the algorithm." She told Raven, "Eliminate the crisis points. Where is the Doctor making the most noise, but there isn't any crisis? We're looking for a party."

"Ok," Raven typed away, eliminating the crisis points, leaving just a red dot on the screen in Essex in the past.

"There he is." Clara smirked, "'Do not go gentle into that good night.'"

"You go, girl!" Missy smirked, leaning over and slamming a vortex manipulator in her wrist.

The trio disappearing...

And reappeared in a middle age castle, in the evening judging by the lit torches on the walls.

"Oh god!" Raven groaned from her heap on the floor, "as much as I agreed to the linked vortex manipulators I thought you would have given me a little warning, mother!"

Raven was honestly a little annoyed the Missy insisted on using Vortex Manipulator, they were horrible and utterly pointless compared to a TARDIS but Missy was keeping her TARDIS a secret from her, which was really annoying because what was she going to do, steal her own mothers TARDIS and leave her stranded somewhere? That was something the Doctor was most likely to do, and she was nothing like the Doctor.

"Sorry!" She grinned, sheepish, "Vortex manipulators." She explained to Clara as she helped Raven to her feet, leaving Clara to get herself steady, "yours are both slaved to mine. Cheap and nasty time travel. You probably want to throw up, don't you? Pick a local. According to you, this is where the Doctor is."

"Ok, how do we find him?" Clara frowned, "how do we know what we're looking for?"

"Anachronisms. The slightest, tiniest..." she trailed hearing an electric guitar riff from elsewhere in the castle, "Anachronisms."

"You're planning on killing him aren't you?" Raven smirked at her.

She closed her eyes, "so tempting."

They followed the sound of a cheering crowd, standing and peering over the stone wall into the castle courtyard where the Doctor stood with an electric guitar, standing in a tank, a bearded man with an axe before him, as the crowd cheered around them.

"A musical instrument is not an axe." The bearded man sighed.

"Yes, and a daffodil is not a broadsword," the Doctor countered, "but I still won the last round!" He raised his arms as the crowd cheered again. "What do you think of my tank? Don't worry, it isn't loaded."

"I don't like it.

"No, neither do I. I bought it for my fish."

"Your fish?"

"I may have ordered online!" He grinned but the crowd was silent, "Oh, come on. Fish? Tank? Honestly, this stuff will be hilarious in a very few hundred years. Do please stick around."

"What's the matter with him?" Clara muttered, "He's never like this."

"Really, never?" Raven raised an eyebrow, leaning over the top of the wall, grimacing at his new clothes. Gone was the smart suit, now he wore a holey jumper and checked trousers, his coat over. He sort of looked like a space hobo. This is why she stuck around, if she didn't the Doctor ended up doing stupid things, "Not once? At all?"

"Oh, you really are new, aren't you?" Missy rolled her eyes. Oh the Doctor really did like to try and hide his true self from his companions didn't he?

"Wait, hang on." Clara frowned as the man looked up at them, lowering the sunglasses he had on over his eyes, "Did he just hear that? He doesn't know we're here, does he?"

Clara's face lit up in delight hearing the Doctor playing the opening of Pretty Woman on the guitar. She had told them that Pretty woman were a favourite movie, had forced both him and Raven to watch it, neither enjoyed it but they did keep quiet as they watched. Well quiet as in Raven complained about the entire movie and the Doctor just wanted to go and see a planet. Still, they had both managed to sit through the entire movie which was more than she expected.

"Now, you lot." The Doctor spoke again, "I have been here all day, and it's been a great day!"

"You've been here for 3 weeks." The bearded man corrected.

"3 weeks?" He repeated quietly, "It must be nearly bedtime. Well, we've partied." The crowd cheered, "Yes! I helped you dig a well, with a first-class, child-friendly visitor's centre! I've given you some top-notch maths tuition in a fun but relevant way. And I have also introduced the word "dude" several centuries early. Let me hear you!"

"Dude!" The crowd yelled.

"Are you a Renaissance?"

"Dude!"

"Are you a Medieval?"

"Dude!"

He pointed to a young man in armour, "I am a dragon-slaying?"

"Dude!" They all shouted.

"We are all the young?"

"Dudes!"

Missy took Ravens hand in hers and turned her away, heading to the stairs down to the courtyard, Clara jogging to follow them down.

"I like it. But I've got some sad news for you, dudes. Tonight, I'm going to have to leave you." The crowd didn't seem to cheer about that, "But before I do, I'd like you to meet a couple of friends of mine."

The crowd cheered again, clapping as Clara waved, quickly moving to the Doctor, Raven following behind her, electing to ignore the onlookers.

"How did you know I was here?" Clara asked him, "Did you see me?"

"When do I not see you?" He countered.

"What, one face in all of that crowd?"

"There was a crowd, too?"

"Wow, we're doing charm as well, now, are we? Which one of us is dying? Ok." Clara breathed as the Doctor suddenly moved to hug her, "And we're doing hugging now, too. I can't keep up."

"Well, you know what they say." He murmured, face hidden behind her shoulder, "Hugging is a great way to hide your face."

"Ok, look." Clara stepped back to look at him, "I guessed a party, but not like this. What is this? This isn't you."

"I spent all day yesterday in a bow tie, the day before in a long scarf. It's my party, and all of me is invited."

"What are you actually doing?" Raven folded her arms.

"I'm having a party." He grinned.

"I'm so close to slapping you."

"Missy!" He pointed at her as she made her way over, "control your daughter."

"She's fine," she waved her off, "she's a goodie two-shoes. Apparently, you think you're going to die tomorrow." She held up his confession dial.

"Well, I've got some good news about that." He grinned at her.

"Oh, yeah?" She rolled her eyes.

"It's still today!"

"Oh, that's very good."

"Doctor." Raven nodded to the bearded man as he grabbed his neck, struggling to breathe.

"Bors." The Doctor hurried to his side, "is it a marble again? Did you swallow one of the marbles I gave you? Don't swallow marbles!" He pulled a snake away that had been wrapped around the mans neck, tightening as he breathed in for air, tossing away as it slithered into black ropes.

"Doctor." The tall figure in the robes caked, a humanoid creature with its face wrapped around like could of a snakes body, "Your friends have led me to you. You will come."

"Says you and whose army?" The Doctor glared, noticing Raven stepping closer to her mother at his approach.

The face turned, segments shifting in opposite directions the ropes dropping to reveal a giant pinkish snake hissing with smaller snakes slithering around.

The crowd yelled in fear, fleeing, leaving the snake man and time travellers alone.

"Nobody dies here." The Doctor determined, "Not one person, not one of my friends, do you understand?"

"Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark lord of Skaro, is dying."

"So I hear."

"He would speak with you again on the last night of his life."

"Then you will harm nobody in this place. Not one person. Are we very, very clear?"

The snake recoiled back into the humanoid figure, "Are you so dangerous, little man?" He hissed.

"You want to know how dangerous I am?" The Doctor scoffed, "Davros sent you. You know how stupid you are? Huh! You came!" He hissed at the Doctor, "Is that supposed to frighten me? Snake nest in a dress? Now, explain, politely. Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?"

"No, wait, hang on a minute." Missy cut in, "Davros is your arch-enemy now?"

"Is now really the time to discuss that?" Raven huffed.

"I'll scratch his eye out." She muttered.

"I feel like that's a dig at my name," she mumbled, Missy winking at her.

So, yes it was. Ravens were the bird seen as an omen of death. They were known to scratch and claw people's eyes out when threatened. Sort of why she chose the name really. An omen of death. That pretty much summed her up. And the birds were rather adorable.

"Davros knows." The snake man tossed the Doctors sonic screwdriver to the ground before them, "Davros remembers."

"What the hell?" Raven breathed turning to the Doctor as he hung his head, "that's your sonic screwdriver."

"Doctor?" Clara frowned at him

"Er, it was." He corrected quietly.

"Was?"

"I don't have a screwdriver anymore."

"Ooh. Never seen that before." Missy eyed him carefully, "Doctor, the look on your face. What is that?"

"Shame." Clara noted, "You're ashamed. Doctor? What have you done?

"Is your ship in orbit?" The Doctor looked over at the snake man.

"It's a trap." Raven stated.

"Prepare yourself for teleport." The snake man nodded.

"Doctor, listen to me." Missy moved to his side, "I know traps, traps are my flirting. This is a trap."

"I am prepared." The Doctor sighed.

"You sent me your confession dial. You threw yourself a 3 week party. You know what this is."

"Yes. Goodbye." He murmured, "Goodbye, Clara. Raven, look after yourself." He nodded to her as he turned around, hands behind his back as one of the small snakes slithered over and bonded his wrists together like a hand cuff.

"We're coming with him." Clara determined, turning around herself, "the three is us."

Ravens eyes widened slightly at that, sharing a look with Missy, closing her eyes and they too turned around, ready to be cuffed by the snakes.

Oh, she was so going to regret this.

"No! No, no, no." The Doctor yelled, shaking his head, "Under no circumstances! What are you doing now?" He frowned seeing the snake man shifting under the robes."

"Voting." He replied, "We are a democracy. It is agreed." Three more snakes slithered over, binding the three females wrists together. "No, no, no! I forbid it, no! No! No! No! No!"

He was ignored as the group of 5 disappeared from the castle.

~.~

"Davros is the child of war, a war that wouldn't end." The Doctor explained to Clara as they said in the snake mans, Colony Sarffs, spaceship to see Davros. Clara besides the Doctor on one side of the ship with Missy and Raven on the other, Raven resting her head in her mothers shoulders, eyes closed. None of them knew if she just had them closed for the journey or if she was taking a quick cat nap, "A thousand years of fighting, until nobody could remember why. So Davros, he created a new kind of warrior, one that wouldn't bother with that question. A mutant in a tank that would never, ever stop. And they never did."

"The Daleks?" Clara frowned.

He nodded, "How scared must you be to seal every one of your own kind inside a tank? Davros made the Daleks, but who made Davros?"

Missy leaned forwards slightly, just enough for a better look out of the front window as there was a loud whoosh and stars appeared out in the space before them, but not so much that it would wake Raven up if she was indeed sleeping, "Ok, great. Coming out of hyperspace."

"Is that a hospital?" Raven yawned, frowning at the building floating before them, like a space station, spinning slowly, like a squared chess pawn.

"Whatever it is, it's where Davros ended up." The Doctor muttered.

~.~

"Seriously?" Clara scoffed as she looked at Raven the girl sleeping on Missys lap, despite the snakes bonding their wrists together she was still able to run her hands through Ravens tuffs of hair on her head, "what the hell have you been doing for Raven to sleep so easily in these situations?"

"Not sleeping," the girl mumbled, "comfy."

"There's been no blowing up planets is that what you mean," Missy lifted her chin up.

"Really? Because Raven said no."

"Yes, because Raven said no."

"Raven still in the room." Raven grumbled, not liking how they were talking about her as though she wasn't even in the room.

"How long have we been waiting?" Clara wondered, turning her gaze to the Doctor as he paced around the room. It felt like hours.

"Who knows?" He shrugged, "It's always the way with hospitals."

"I hate hospitals." Raven grumbled, slowly sitting up, but not moving as she enjoyed the feeling of Missy running her fingers over her head.

"Join the club."

"You're a doctor, how the hell does that work that you hate hospital."

"They give me the creeps." He defended with a huff.

"A medical man who hates hospitals, never heard that before."

They looked to the door as it slid open as Colony Sarff slithering in, "You will come." He looks at the Doctor, his gaze shifting to the females. "You will stay."

"Fair enough." Missy shrugged, still running her hands though Ravens hair.

"Doctor." Clara called as the Doctor moved to Colony Sarff, "You sent Missy your confession dial."

"Well, we've known each other a long time." He defended quietly, "She's one of my own people. Ravens mother." He reminded her.

That seemed to be something that always needed to be said of people were going to realise that killing Missy would then leave Raven an orphan.

"My point is, we both saw her die on Earth, ages ago. And obviously you knew that wasn't real. Or worse, hoped it wasn't. Either way, I think you've been lying."

"I'm sorry." He offered her.

"Don't apologise. Make it up to me." She broke into a smile, "There, see? Ha. Now you have to come back."

He offered her a small smile in return as he followed Colony Sarff out, glancing back at Missy a moment, "Gravity." He muttered.

"I know." She pulled a face at him as the Doctor slid shut behind him.

"Gravity?" Clara frowned at them.

"Well," Raven got to her feet, leaving Missy pouting on the floor, hands still raised to continue with her hair. "If this really was a space station then it would be artificial gravity, a coppery smell to it."

"But this feels real, man." Missy imitated an American accent for a moment as she too stood up, jumping on her toes lightly to test the gravity, "Like a planet."

"How can you and the Doctor be friends?" Clara shook her head.

"Why shouldn't we be?"

"You spend all your time fighting."

"Exactly." She grinned tossing the now dead snake that had been binding her wrists to the floor. "You know what this airlock is? I'll tell you. It's pants."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that today might be the day."

"What day?"

"The day I kill you..."

"Stop it," Raven cut in, moving between them in case Missy did something unapologetically evil.

"Hmm, goodie two-shoes."

"Never mind that, just get rid of the snake," she turned, wincing as the snake squealed as she rubbed her wrists, free from the snakes scaly skin.

"What are you doing?" Clara gasped as Missy turned to the control panel, "Are you opening it?"

"Yeah, course." She replied.

"Missy, we'll get sucked out! Raven, stop her."

"We'll only get sucked out of this really was a space station," Raven reasoned.

"A space station that should have artificial gravity," Clara followed, "which this doesn't, according to you to."

Alright, so maybe this was a space station and so they wouldn't get sucked out. But why make it appear like a space station. And if it wasn't, then what was it actually?

"The Doctor noticed too, if that's any constellation."

"Do you really think I'd open the airlock if it meant I was sending Raven to her death." Missy countered.

"That girl is very good at almost dying and then managing to survive with just seconds to spare."

Raven groaned, she hadn't brought it up since the graveyard and had hoped Missy had forgotten about that, "Look are you going to open the airlock door or not." She huffed as Missy continued to look at her, an expression she couldn't quite place under her makeup.

Eventually Missy looked away and slammed her hand on the button, the airlock opening with an alarm, but they were sucked out by the vacuum as they should have been, slowly she stretched an arm out, "It's warm, isn't it? For deep space, anyway." She reached a leg out.

"What are you doing?" Clara hissed.

"Treading softly." She replied, fully stepping out and standing in the middle of space.

"There's ground?" Raven frowned at that, slowly following the woman out, stepping away from the room but not too far in case the vacuum suddenly started up and she needed to grab onto something.

"We're on a planet." Missy realised, "And that is not a space station." She pointed to it as Clara followed them out, "That is a building. And the rest of the planet, the whole thing, is invisible."

"That's ridiculous." Clara scoffed.

"Well, yes, of course it is. I mean, how would you ever find your glasses? Or the little girl's room? And what if you kissed an ugly?"

"Unless, when you're part of the atmosphere, you start syncing with the spectrum." Raven argued lightly, Missys eyes widening slightly at that.

"Why would anybody hide a whole planet?" Clara shook her head.

"That would rather depend on the planet, dear." Missy murmured glancing around as the planet slowly faded into their view.

The single building that they left joined to more oddly shaped building to create a city, a lone city standing out against the rest of the desert.

"No..." Raven breathed.

"They've built it again." Missy whispered, "They've brought it back. No, no. No!"

"What? What is it?" Clara looked between the two, Raven looked genuinely scared and Missy, well her expression wasn't too far from the same, "Where are we?"

"Skaro."

"What's Skaro?"

"The beginning. Where it all started. This is the planet of the Daleks."

"Correct." A Dalek called making them spin to see one approaching, clearly the alarm had alerted them that they had wandered off.

~.~

They had been forced to follow the Dalek, escorted into the city into a large room, filling with Daleks, as well as the red Dalek Supreme, in what looked like a control room for Daleks of the sort.

"The TARDIS." Clara gasped seeing the blue box sat in the corner of the room, "How did she get here?"

"It has been procured." The Dalek supreme stated.

"Yeah? Yeah, well, if you're trying to get inside, you can't. Nothing can enter the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS will not be entered. The TARDIS will be destroyed."

"Yeah?" Clara scoffed, "well, good luck, because she's indestructible."

"Did the Doctor tell you that?" Missy looked at her, "Because you should never believe a man about a vehicle."

"And you'd know for experience, would you?" Raven grinned, nudging her side.

"Oh, hush, darling. Just watch and learn," she winked at her moving to the middle of the room, speaking to the Daleks in the room, "Daleks! Pay attention!"

Raven moved over to Clara, "be ready, it's going down now." She murmured in her ear.

"You know what this is?" Missy gestured to the TARDIS, "This thing you're about to destroy? I'll tell you! It's the dog's unmentionables. And you know all about those, don't you?" She tickled the round balls on the closest Dalek.

"Mother!" Raven huffed, "room full of Daleks, probably going to be exterminated! Don't get carried away."

She pulled a face at being bossed around, "look at you all grown up and taking charge." Raven raised an unamused eyebrow, "This is a TARDIS. With this, you can go anywhere, do anything, kill anyone. With this, the Daleks can be more powerful than ever before." She walked into a ledge, leaning over the railing as the Daleks turned to her, "You just need one thing. No! Two things," she smiled as Clara slowly crept closer to the door, "You need us, Raven and I. Two Time Ladies, to show you how it works. With this and with us, everything can be yours. And you can burn it all, for ever and ever and ever. Or would you rather just kill me?"

"Maximum extermination." The Dalek supreme ordered.

"Exterminate." The Daleks fired at her as Missy disappeared.

"Raven?" Clara whispered to her, seeing her staring at where Missy had been. She wasn't sure how the girl would react to that, seeing her mother exterminated by their enemies.

Raven glanced down to the vortex manipulator on her wrist, "run!" She told Clara. The girl taking off to the doors only to disappear herself as a Dalek hit her. "Right then boys and girls," she eyed the Dalek, faking her bravery. Inside she was terrified but she knew she wouldn't die, not with her mother here. She had to get this perfect, once she moved the Dalek would fire and if she moved to early the manipulator would have recharge enough to get her out as well, "Laters!" She called, turning her back to run for the door, disappearing for the room herself...


	18. The witches familiar

Missy jumped forwards to catch Raven as she stumbled, appearing before her in the dessert outlands of Skaro, Clara unconscious on the ground. Whether from the escape or because Missy had knocked her out, Raven didn't know.

"That was at too close," She breathed into her mothers arms.

"You didn't think I'd send you there without an escape plan, did you?" Missy asked her, almost disappointed.

"Did you do that?" Raven nodded to Clara's prone floor, sprayed out on the floor.

"Never mind that. Do you know how I did it?"

"Yes." She stated, "I'm not human."

"Dalek energy," Missy tossed the Vortex Manipulators aside, "burns them out, poor things."

"I hate travelling with them."

~.~

Clara blinked awake finding herself hanging upside down, alive and away from Daleks, in the desert of the planet.

She frowned seeing Missy sitting before her on a rock, sharpening a stick with a small knife, Raven on the ground before her, watching her.

"Don't ask," Raven warned her.

"Consider the Doctor." Missy looked up now that Clara was awake, "The Doctor, trapped. The Doctor, alone. You all right there, dear?" She asked Clara as the woman slowly spun around.

"Where are we?" Clara frowned, "How did we...?"

"Shh, now. Mummy's talking. Ok, I'm going to tell you a story of the Doctor. It's classic. On the run, no TARDIS. No friends, no help."

"So, the Doctor happy?" Raven smirked.

"Exactly!" Missy laughed, "It was a long time ago. Doesn't matter which face he was wearing, they're all the Doctor to me. So let's give it to the eyebrows."

"But the Daleks..." Clara began.

"Yes, I'm coming to that."

"Shouldn't we be, um? I don't want to say dead." She didn't want to say it, but with Ravens track record of almost dying and then surviving last minute she wasn't that surprised. And with Daleks, especially on their home planet, she assumed she was only still alive because Raven asked Missy very nicely, and even then the woman probably would try and make her death look like an accident.

"Hush!" Missy hissed, "He's travelling by teleporter. Unfortunately, his teleporter is out of power. Also unfortunate, he's being stalked by, oh, say about 50 android assassins? I may be rounding up." She poked her finger with the stick, checking its sharpness, "Ow. 50 invisible, indestructible android assassins, all exclusively programmed to kill him."

"Why are you sharpening that stick?"

"Well, I've no idea how long we're going to be stuck out here. Might have to go hunting."

"Mother..." Raven sighed.

"So why am I tied up?" Clara shook her head.

"In case there's nothing to hunt." Missy winked.

"Oh my god…" Raven moaned, but she made no move to go and help Clara down.

"The Doctor, then. Surrounded. Outnumbered. Outgunned. And freeze. Nanoseconds to live. Four, I'd say, being generous. Now, my question is this. How did he survive?" She stood up, and moved to poke Clara with the stick, "Oh, come on, Clara! You know him. Consider the Doctor."

She frowned, thinking over the information Missy gave her, "Where did he get that teleport thingy?"

"Oh, good, good." Missy nodded.

"He stole one from an android." Raven told her.

"So, I'm guessing he uses the same energy as the android weapons, right?" Clara guessed.

"Excellent!" Missy grinned, "Not seeing you as sandwiches now."

"Ok, then. He uses the energy wave from the android weapons to recharge the teleport bracelet and at the exact moment he's supposed to disintegrate. He actually teleports. Hang on, that's how you did it. That's how we escaped the Daleks."

"I modified the same principle for our vortex manipulators, yes. Blew them off, I'm afraid."

"But the Doctor," Raven added, "he improvised. Went through thousands of calculations in the few seconds it takes to fire a disintegrator."

"Seriously, what a swot!"

"So the androids think he's dead and the Doctor escapes." Clara followed.

"Don't be absurd." Raven scoffed.

"No, he's the Doctor." Missy deadpanned, "He fell into a nest of vampire monkeys. But that's another story!" She moved to the rope and untied it, sending Clara crashing down with a cry.

Raven winced, "Alright, Clara?"

"Fine!" She gasped, "I'm good."

Missy rolled her eyes, not caring if Clara was hurt from the fall or not, "Why does the Doctor always survive?"

"Because he's clever."

"Yes, but there's lots of clever dead people. I love killing clever clogs, they make the best faces."

"Because he always assumes he's going to win. He always knows there's a way to survive. He just has to go and find it."

"Yes, except this time, he made a will and threw himself a goodbye party. Now, if the Doctor assumes he's going to die, what happens then?"

"We do." Clara said, getting to her feet.

"He's trapped at the heart of the Dalek empire. He's a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe. Between us and him is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick."

"So how do we start?" Raven wondered.

"We assume we're going to win." Clara answered her.

"Oh." Missy pouted, "Pity, really. I was actually quite peckish." She shrugged and took Ravens hand heading further across the desert.

"Can I have a stick too?" Clara asked, jogging to catch up.

She scoffed, "do you really think I'd give you a stick and leave Raven defenceless."

Clara crossed her arms.

"That's a no." Raven offered, taking the knife that Missy had used to sharpen her stick.

~.~

"Daleks have sewers?" Clara asked in disbelieve as she stood with the mother and daughter looking down in the hole in the ground, hidden in a dark cave out of the Daleks sight as they flew around the city, the hole in the ground leading down to the Dalek sewers.

"With one significant difference." Raven mumbled, hands deep in her pockets.

"Being?" Clara glanced at her.

"They're ever so slightly alive." Missy answered her, smirking, enjoying Clara's face shift to one of shock and disgust.

"They're what?"

"How much of a drop would you say that is? Can you see the bottom?"

"Too dark." Clara moved closer to the edge for a better look, "Er, we could chuck a stone down, or something..."

"Oh yeah, good idea." She agreed only to push Clara down, the woman screaming and landing with a thud, silent. "20 feet."

"Mother!" Raven huffed. If Clara survived to the end of the day without ending up injured enough to be sent to hospital, she would be very impressed indeed. Humans were so weak and vulnerable.

"Ooh, right little Madame aren't you?" Missy pulled a face at her.

Raven just responded with a scowl, lowering herself down the hole as Missy jumped after her. "Can you go one day without trying to kill someone," she sighed, kneeling besides the human, checking she wasn't too hurt and was only unconscious.

Missy eyed her as she checked on the human, kneeling besides her, "I remember the days you stood by my side, watching as humanity burnt." Missy mused, "that was only possible because of you."

Raven stood, "I hated that."

"You never said anything."

"Of course not. Who would? I hated it but I willingly stood by your side."

"Why?"

"I love you. I'd do anything for you. I think I'd even kill the Doctor if you asked." She said honestly, "please, don't ask me to do that."

Missy gave a small laughed, "not today, darling." She looked back seeing Clara awake, quickly grabbing the stick she had dropped and jumping to her feet. "hello." She smirked as Clara pointed the stick at her, "oh poppet. Do you really think you could?"

"First chance I get." Clara replied.

"Enough." Raven moved between them, looking at them both in turn, "you wont survive down her alone." She told Clara and turned to Missy, "and you need a way of this planet. So maybe stop threatening to kill each other while we're in the Daleks sewers."

"You sound just like your mother." Missy smiled at her.

"First time for everything."

Missy grabbed her stick back from Clara, "in future, if you're going to take my stick, don't do it with Raven around. Team work is all about respect."

Clara shook her head, "Were not a team."

"Every miner needs a Canary."

"Enough." Raven glared.

"Now, hush, look around. Bit of a mess, isn't it?"

"You said it was a sewer." Clara pointed out.

"Daleks don't generate much in the way of waste."

"So what is it all, then?"

"Decaying Daleks. Daleks can't die. Genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. Well. But they still age, poor loves. Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies. Interestingly, the Dalek word for sewer is the same as their word for graveyard." She stabbed a piece of decaying Dalek from on the wall with her stick where it screamed in pain.

"Clara Oswald." They looked up hearing the Doctors voice broadcasting around the sewers, and if his voice had reached this far across the planet, then it must be everywhere. "I want Clara Oswald, safe, alive, and returned to me immediately. You bring her back. You do that. You do that now. Unharmed. Unhurt. Alive."

"Your associate..." the Dalek supreme cut in.

But the Doctor didn't let it talk, "I saw what happened. I was there. And I'm hoping, for all of our sakes, that it was a trick."

"It was not a deception."

"Because if Clara Oswald is really dead, then you'd better be very, very careful how you tell me."

"Listen to that." Missy whispered, "The Doctor without hope."

"Who's going to tell me?" The Doctor called, they could almost hear the glare in his voice, the Oncoming Storm coming out to play, "Who's going to go first?"

"Nobody is safe now."

"All the power Davros had is mine. Everything he had, I have. Who's going to tell me that Clara Oswald is really dead?"

"He'll burn everything. Us too."

"Then you need to get me to him." Clara determined, jaw set as she looked at Missy.

"What one little human and he'll stop?" She scoffed.

"You heard him."

Missy eyed her a moment longer, "we'll see. Come on." She turned and walked off.

Clara glanced at Raven a moment, the girl furrowing her brows with an unread expression as she moved to follow Missy, the woman seeming to know the way and she wouldn't lead them to their deaths, maybe if it was just the two of them but not with Raven.

Raven stayed where she was a moment longer, she didn't know why but a part of her was hurt that he didn't seem to care that she and her mother could be dead. He was only angry about Clara being seemingly dead. She shouldn't really care, nor expect him to care. Clara was his companion and she was just his childhood friends daughter, she wasn't really anything to him. But still, a part of her was sad he didn't seem to care she had died.

Had he just assumed Missy had gotten them two out and left Clara to die? Or did he just care more about the human? Did he think so little of her that after everything she would so easily leave Clara to die just to save herself?

"Raven!"

"Coming!" She gasped quickly running to catch up with them, not wanting to be left alone in the dark Dalek sewers, or on Skaro at all for that matter.

~.~

"How much longer do we have to stay down here?" Raven whined as they walked down another tunnel in the sewers, a lift at the end of this one.

"Oh whinge whinge whinge," Missy rolled her eyes, "do you want some cheese to go with that whine?"

"What is that?" Clara frowned at the metal door at the end of the tunnel, "A lift?"

"What?" Missy barely casted her a glance, "Never mind the lift. See that thing on the wall?" She nodded to the metal eyestalk in the wall, the glowing blue light in the middle, poking out of the wall slightly.

"What about it?"

"Take a look."

"What is it?"

"Closer."

Clara peeked up to look into the eyestalk, "What am I even looking for?"

"Nothing. I'm giving it a good look at you."

"Mum..." Raven could only shake her head as a Dalek yelled, the lift already heading down to them as an alarm blared.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Clara cried.

"Ever ring a doorbell and run away?" Missy merely grinned as she pulled Raven around the corner, the girl not even having a chance to argue, or trying too, as Missy moved back and handcuffed Clara to the eyestalk in the wall.

"Humanoid detected in lower level." A Dalek called from inside the approaching lift.

"Not this time." She smirked and hid round the corner with Raven.

"Why?" She stressed.

"We need to trap and kill a Dalek." Missy reasoned, "You're the bait, I'm the hook. Ravens the fisherman." She removed the brooch from the collar of her blouse, "Dark star alloy. Goes through armour plating like a knife through people."

"Mother, please," Raven gasped, "uncuff her."

"Missy!" Clara yelled, tugging in the cuffs despite knowing it was pointless.

"It's pretty, though, isn't it?" Missy ignored them, showing it to Raven, "the Doctor got it for your graduation actually." She told her, "gave it to me when you claimed your regenerations, asked me to give it to you but before I could we both had to leave."

"What?" Raven breathed. She just said that the Doctor had given her a graduation present, "you weren't at my graduation. Neither of you were."

She knew they hadn't been, claimed to be busy, she had assumed he was getting ready to follow the Doctor across the stars, the Doctor had gone a few days before hand, he had gone that night.

She shrugged, "maybe not in the crowd but so you really think I'd miss my darling daughters graduation ceremony. Honestly Raven what do you take me for?" She smiled as Raven moved and snuggled into her chest.

Of course she had been at her daughters graduation. What father wouldn't have been there to see their child finish their schooling and choose their title?

Raven was shocked to say the least to find out they had both actually seen her graduation especially considering that the Doctor had already left the planet. And to find out he had given her a present. Just wow. Missy had given her a locket, a photo inside of her just before she left for the academy and both of her parents but she had lost that during the war. Lost in the fires.

"Keep it talking." Missy hissed to Clara, "We need to draw it out of the lift."

"You can't kill a Dalek with a brooch." She snapped back.

"Yes, you can. Yes, you can."

The Dalek rolled out of the lift as she arrived on their level, noticing Clara as Missy hid behind the wall, keeping Raven behind her, "Humanoid detected. Remain still. Do not move. Scan in progress. Humanoid unauthorised in restricted area. Sterilisation proceeding."

"Hey, you!" Missy jumped out from behind the wall, a single glance silently telling Raven to keep hidden, "Guess what?" She stabbed the Dalek with the pin of the brooch, "I just put a hole in you." She stabbed it again in another part of its casing, "And another and another. And another!"

"What are you doing?" Raven mumbled.

"Murdering a Dalek. We are Time Ladies, it's our golf."

"Damage levels insignificant." The Dalek stated.

"Oh, really?" Missy smirked at it, "I think you're forgetting you're surrounded by a bunch of very old, very angry Daleks." The old and decaying Daleks in the walls began to screech and squeal, sliding off the walls, "You just got yourself a puncture in a bad neighbourhood." Missy put on an American accent, "Meet the locals? All blind and squelchy and out of their tiny minds, but they can still smell! Nobody hates like a Dalek. Here they come! I think they want to steal your motor."

"Emergency!" The Dalek cried as the Dalek flesh covered its casing, moving to block its eyestalk, "Emergency! My vision is impaired." And seemed into the mutant by the grilling, "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Oh, here comes the older generation!" Missy cackled running to uncuff Clara and pulling her behind the wall. "These young folks today are so tetchy!"

"Emergency! Emergency!"

Raven shut her eyes tight as the Dalek exploded, coughing from the smoke as Missy poked her head back round seeing the danger had passed and moved to the now dead Dalek, opening the top of the case and tossing away the remains of the mutant Kaled inside. "Get in." She instructed Clara.

"What? No!" She shook her head.

"I'll do." Raven volunteered hesitatingly.

"No," Missy shook her head at her. "You get in." She repeated to Clara.

"Or what?" She challenged.

"Oh Clara," she smiled, "do you really want to go there."

Clara paused, the stories both the Doctor and Raven had told her about what she had done to people. No, she really didn't.

"Really, its fine," Raven tried, "I know how to control it."

"Fine," Clara sighed getting in the casing as Missy opened the front panelling for her and began to connect wires and electrode to her head. "How am I supposed to make it go?" She inquired, "Are there pedals?"

"Telepathic control." Raven answered, "you think and it goes."

"Open wide." Missy instructed, holding up the final wire, sighing heavily as Clara opened her mouth, "I meant your skull." Clara snapped her mouth shut again, "Never mind."

Honestly how Raven did seem to care about the human was far beyond her.

"Ow!" Clara yelled, as Missy connected the final wire to her temple.

"Don't worry," Missy waved her off, "There's loads of nano-tech repairing any damage as the feed goes in."

"What about when it comes out?"

"No idea." Missy grinned, "Nobody knows. Anyway, to control the unit, you just have to think. Novel idea for you, but let's try it. Move forwards."

"I don't know how to..." Clara trailed into a gasp as the Dalek moved forwards at her thought.

"Telepathic controls," Raven repeated.

"Circle right." Missy instructed and Clara thought about circled to the right and the Dalek did so. "Circle left. There you go. All right, this won't hurt a bit." She reached in a pressed a control, stepping back as the case began to close around Clara.

"Hang on!" Claras eyes widened as she was surrounded in the darkness, "No, Missy. No, no, no, no! No, Missy. Raven! No, no, no, no, please don't! Don't, don't, please!"

"Don't do it," Raven murmured, looking at her mother.

"Do what?" Missy frowned at her.

"I know what you planning to do. And I don't want you to do it."

"Oh, I'm not going to do anything that'll hurt you're little head," Missy patted her head.

She closed her eyes a moment, "Are you ok?" Raven asked Clara.

"Fine, I think," came the monotone robotic voice of the Dalek, "ok...that's a bit weird."

"Just a bit." Raven agreed.

"All right." Missy nodded, "Shh. Say your name."

"Why?" Clara asked

"Just say it. Just say it."

"Dalek." Came the reply.

"Say it again."

"Dalek. Dalek."

"One more time." Missy cackled.

"I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek! I am a Dalek!"

"Whoa!" Raven dropped to the floor as the gun powered up and fired, hitting the walls, "careful! You could have shot me."

She knew what it was, Clara was saying her name but it only came out as calling her a Dalek and inside she was panicking, causing the Dalek to fire randomly.

"Don't get emotional." Missy warned her, "Emotion fires the gun. Ok?"

"I do not understand." Clara stated.

"Say I love you. Those exact words. Don't ask me why, just say it."

Inside she said the three words but the Dalek only came out with; "Exterminate."

Missy laughed at that, "Say, you are different from me."

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Stop it!" Raven cut in sharply, "just stop it."

Missy looked at her, inhaling at the girls glare. "Cybermen suppress emotion." She explained, "Daleks channel it through a gun. That's why they keep yelling exterminate. It's how they reload. So, let's go and kill them. Come on."

They walked through the halls of the Dalek city, using Clara in the Dalek as an excuse to walked through the city, claiming they were prisoners and Clara was escorting them to the Emperor.

"Halt!" A Dalek rolled out from the lift before them, Raven quickly raising her hands in surrender, "report."

"Humanoid intruders found on lower levels." Clara stated behind them as Missy slowly raised her own hands.

"Why have the intruders not been exterminated? Explain. Explain. Explain!"

"We're prisoners of special significance." Missy drawled, "Count the hearts."

"You are Time Lords?"

"Time Lady." Raven corrected automatically.

"Some of us can afford the upgrade." Missy smirked, nudging Raven at the little joke, who just rolled her eyes. Missy thought she was so funny but she wasn't, "Is it still the same old Supreme Dalek these days? I fought him once on the slopes of the Never Vault. Tell him the bitch is back."

"You will follow." The Dalek ordered, turning and leading them off.

"Do you have a plan?" Raven hissed as they was forced after the Dalek, Clara rolling behind them.

"Do you think I'd trap you in a room of Daleks without one?" She countered.

"Good point."

No, Missy would never do that to her. To Clara yes, but never her.

~.~

"Oh, hello!" Missy beamed as they were escorted back into the main control room again to stand before the supreme Dalek, "Look at you all, with your nice, shiny domes. Oh, I am loving this." She twirled around the room, leaving Raven near the Clara Dalek and sat on the dais before the supreme Dalek, "You're my secret favourite. Don't tell the others."

"You are enemies of the Daleks." The supreme stared.

"Yes, well, anyone who's not a Dalek is an enemy of the Daleks, so that was an easy guess."

"You will be exterminated."

"Oh, great." Raven groaned.

"Please, please do," Missy huffed, "because I have been on my feet all day. But before you get all exterminate-y," she stood back up and moved back to Raven side ready for if they do exterminate them, "2 things. 1, I want to see Davros. 2, I have a lovely little gift for you all, if you take me to him right now."

"We do not negotiate."

"Clara Oswald. I brought you complete control of the Doctor, gift-wrapped. Better." She smirked, "Canned."

"Where is Clara Oswald?" The supreme Dalek, "You will tell us! You will tell us! You will tell us!"

Missy moved and danced in rhythm to the Dalek a speech when they all suddenly stopped and lowered down.

"Er, what just happened?" Raven called hesitantly moving a Dalek away, biting her lip in case the Daleks suddenly powered back up and tried to fire at her, but it didn't.

Missy frowned herself, unsure why they had all powered down at once, "I'm sorry. Was I, er, was I boring you?" The familiar golden glow of regeneration began to rise from the Daleks, the only other Time Lord on the planet. The Doctor, "No. No, no, no, no, Doctor." He whispered, shaking her head. "What have you done?"

"What is happening?" Clara cried.

"I have to find the Doctor." Missy determined grabbing Ravens arm and tugging her out of the room, Clara yelling after them, but she wasn't the priority right now. The Doctor was in trouble and somehow his regeneration energy was seeping into the Daleks, this could not be good.

Missy grabbed the gun from a random powered down Dalek in a corridor as the raced to Davros room, the best guess as to where the Doctor would be. "Give me your gun!" She used it to shoot the lock on the door to Davros room, running inside to find the Doctor screaming, trapped by Colony Sarffs snakes, regeneration energy seeping from him into the Daleks.

"Oh my god," Raven breathed as Missy quickly shot the snakes, releasing their hold on the Doctor who fell to the ground in a heap. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine," Missy waved of her concern as she slowly tapped his cheek with her foot, "see? He's awake. Morning." She greeted as the Doctor sat up.

"Where's Clara?" He gasped.

"Oh, hello to you, too."

"You're alive, so she is too. Where is she?"

"Oh don't worry about us." Raven grumbled, "We're fine, thanks for asking. Really remarkable duty of care you've got there." She glared, how dare he? They came barging in here and practically saved his life and the first thing he did was ask for Clara. The ape girl! No, 'oh thanks you for saving my life,' or, 'oh, good, you're not dead.' Just where's Clara. Rude.

"Oh, you are not fine." Davros argued as he rolled over to them, "Thanks to you, Doctor, my creations shall grow to yet greater supremacy, and my own life is prolonged. This is the final defeat of the Time Lords. Have you nothing to say, Doctor?"

"3." He stated.

"What?" Raven frowned, moving closer to her mothers side, dreading his plan, watching as he retrieved his confession dial from the box it was in and pocketing it.

"Do you understand what has happened?" Davros eyed him, "Hear my children sing!"

"2." The Doctor counted down.

"Oh, I know that face." Missy smirked.

"All praise Davros, creator and saviour of the Daleks." Davies continued.

"1." And right on cue the city shook beneath their feet.

"What is that?" Davros demanded, "What's happening?"

"I knew exactly what you were doing," the Doctor told him, "and I let you do it. You transmitted regeneration energy into every Dalek on this planet. Every single one."

"What have you done?"

"1 word. Er, no, 2 words, actually. First word, moron. Second word, sewers."

"Oh, thats brilliant." Raven breathed.

"No." Davros shook his head, "This cannot be correct. How can this be?"

"Generations of Daleks just woke up very cross," the Doctor remarked, "and they are coming up the pipes. Or to put it another way, bye!" He turned and ran out the room.

"Doctor, you must help me." Davros called meekly but the man had gone.

"You're dead, Davros," Raven smirked.

"Can I just say, it's been an absolute pleasure to finally meet you," Missy dropped into a small curtsy before poking his single Dalek eye, "come on," she and Raven ran out.

"You actually poked his eye out." Raven laughed as the chased after the Doctor.

"I said I would."

"Hey!" Raven cried as the Doctor came to a sudden stop before a Dalek, "watch it!"

"This city is about to be sucked into the ground." The Doctor glared at the Dalek, "Your own sewer is about to consume you. There's no way you can win, there is nothing you can do, so just tell me, where is Clara Oswald?"

"I am a Dalek." It stated.

"Yes, you're a Dalek. Where is Clara?"

"I am a Dalek."

"Oh my god," Raven gasped, "that's you right?"

"Affirmative." The Dalek agreed.

"Doctor..."

"Clara's dead, Doctor." Missy cut Raven off before she could tell him it was actually Clara, a stern piercing gaze warning her to keep quiet. Raven slammed her lips shut, "This is the one that killed her."

"Do not listen to her. I am a Dalek, I am a Dalek."

"I got her out of the city, but this one caught us and shot her down. There was nothing I could do, I'm afraid." She hung her head.

"I am a Dalek."

"She ran. She screamed. I'm so glad you didn't have to see that."

"I am a Dalek. I am a Dalek."

"This one's a mad one, isn't it?" Missy continued, "I mean, it's almost like, like it's proud."

"Raven..." the Doctor glanced at her, seeing she was silent.

She hung her head, eyes closed, sighing, "I'm sorry..."

She couldn't bring herself to say it, to admit Clara was alive but couldn't get out the Dalek casing, she couldn't go against her mother, not for one silly little human.

"Kill it, Doctor." Missy murmured in the mans ear, slowly guiding his hand over the Dalek gun, "They're all going to die anyway. Indulge yourself. Go on, kill the Dalek."

"Do not kill me!" The Dalek cried, Clara's panic rising, "Do not kill me!"

Raven adverted her gaze as the Doctor aimed the gun at the Dalek with Clara trapped inside. She could easily get out if she just thought about the casing opening but she didn't know that, "Is Clara dead?"

"I am a Dalek. I am alive. I am your enemy. Your enemy. Mercy!"

The Doctor frowned at that, lowering the gun slightly, "You shouldn't be able to say that."

"Mercy." It repeated.

"That word shouldn't exist in your vocabulary. How did Davros teach you to say that?"

"Mercy."

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?" The Doctor demanded, cautious to what the Daleks plan was.

"I show mercy."

"It's Clara!" Raven blurted out, quickly moving to his other side, opposite her mother as she turned eyes wide at the betray, "Clara's in there! I'm sorry!"

"What?" The Doctor breathed staring between her and the Daleks, eyes wide as he dropped the gun. He had almost killed Clara! "Open your casing."

"How?" Clara asked in the Daleks voice.

"Just think the word open. It'll work."

"Oh, look at that." Missy commented as the casing open to reveal Clara trapped inside, eyes impossible wide, cheek stained with tears, terrified, "Now, there's a surprise."

"Sorry," Raven whispered, to both of them, sorry she betrayed her mother and sorry she almost let the Doctor kill Clara.

"Oh Raven," he shook his head at her before glaring at Missy, "Missy...run." he quickly helped Clara free from the Dalek, the woman freely sobbing at being so close to him shooting her.

"In a way," Missy shrugged, unconcerned of the glare he was giving her, honestly they all should have seen it coming, "this is why I gave her to you in the first place. To make you see. The friend inside the enemy, the enemy inside the friend."

"I'm sorry, Clara." The Doctor hugged her, "I'm so sorry!"

"Everyone's a bit of both. Everyone's a hybrid."

"I said, run!" He snapped at her.

"It wasn't me who ran, Doctor. That was always you." She informed him, nose in the air as she sauntered away.

"What no!" Raven cried, "you can't leave her here!"

"Raven!" The Doctor sighed as she moved to follow after the woman, despite the city shaking and falling around them, "we need to go!"

"No! Mother!"

"Raven!" He snapped, tugging her off as she struggled against him, "don't make me do it!"

"Mother!" She screamed. "We can't leave her here! Please!"

The Doctor rolled her eyes as he struggled to pull her along, throwing her over his shoulder as she struggled, kicking and screaming against him.

"Emergency!" The supreme Dalek cried as they ran into the control room where the TARDIS had been before the TARDIS got rid of her, "Dalek control is compromised."

The Doctor tugged Clara back as a bit of ceiling caved in, "Where was the TARDIS? It was over there somewhere, wasn't it?" "What is happening? Explain! Explain!"

"Dalek Supreme," the Doctor turned to it, shifting raven as she continued kicking to get free of his grip. God she was an annoying child, "your sewers are revolting."

"You will assist, or you will be exterminated."

"Oh, well, go on, then." The Doctor shrugged as they moved to where the TARDIS had last been set down, avoiding the crumbling ceiling around them, "Exterminate away."

"Doctor!" Clara gasped as the Daleks fired but the energy bolts hitting the TARDIS force field that was still around.

"Oops, sorry. TARDIS force field is still here. We get in, you don't."

"The TARDIS has been destroyed." The supreme Dalek stated. "Ah, don't be silly, of course it hasn't. It just redistributed itself for a moment. Hostile Action Dispersal System. I'll give it a quick blast from my sonic, and the real time envelope will reassemble right here."

"Doctor, you don't have your screwdriver." Clara reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, I'm over screwdrivers. They spoil the line of your jacket. These days, I'm all about wearable technology." He grinned setting on the dark framed sunglasses he had. "Ow!" He frowned at Raven hit his arm. "Behave, Raven!"

"No." She pouted.

"What is happening?" The supreme Dalek demanded.

"Oh same old, same old. Just the Doctor, Raven and Clara Oswald in the TARDIS." He smirked as the TARDIS reformed around them, "Clara," he gestured to the console. The woman running to pilot them off the planet as he stormed to the upper gallery, flopping Raven down.

"Bastard!" She glared as he headed back to the console.

"Spoilt brat." He shot back.

~.~

"No chance you're going to tell me what's in that confession dial, I suppose?" Clara asked, eying the disc in the Doctors hand as they stood in the desert of the planet, watching the planet fall.

He was silent as he put it in his trouser pocket. No, he wasn't, "It doesn't make sense." He frowned.

"What that you abandoned my mother with no escape in the middle of the city to die." Raven shot at him.

"When you were in the Dalek, Clara," he muttered, ignoring Raven, but at least thankful she wasn't going to run into the city herself, "you made it say mercy...It shouldn't have understood the concept, it shouldn't have been able to say it. How did a tiny piece of mercy get into the DNA of the Daleks?" His frown deepened as he tried to place it. Why did Daleks know mercy, how did Davros manage to teach them that word. His eyes widened as he realised and he stormed off back to the TARDIS.

"Hey," Clara nudged Raven gently, "thanks for not letting the Doctor kill me and all...means a lot."

She snorted, hands deep in her pockets as she silently turned back to the TARDIS, electing to ignore her. It was her fault that the Doctor had left her mother in the dying city. So Missy may had almost manipulated the Doctor into killing Clara he shouldn't have ignored them. He had completely overlooked the fact that they had saved him from dying, asking for Clara.

~.~

"You ignored her," Raven folded her arms, glaring at the Doctor, just the two of them in the console room. Clara having gone to bed after the exhausting day.

The man had gone and ended up saving young Davros back when he had still been a young boy, saving him out of mercy, hence the reason as to why the Daleks had the word in the vocabulary.

"She tried to get me to kill Clara." He reminded her.

"Because you didn't seem to care that we had survived and was only asking for Clara. We could hear you, you know, demanding that only Clara's death had been a trick. So much for that duty of care."

"You wanna know why I only cared that Clara could have been dead?" He looked at her, "because the thought of either of you. Of my best friend, and her daughter, dead. Was too much to even think of and I had to hope that you had survived because I couldn't bare the fought of you two being dead."

Raven blinked, stunned at that. "Um," she hesitated, now stumped at what to say, "I, um, you still ignored her!" She shouted, "and left her to die."

"She won't die," he rolled his eyes.

"Her vortex manipulator burnt out getting the three of us out of the city." She deadpanned.

"She'll find another way."

"Please," she pleaded, moving to his side of the console, "just drop her on a random planet. Clara doesn't have to know. She's my mother, and she's meant to be your oldest friend. Please, Doctor! We don't even have to tell Clara. She's my mother!"

Saying that seemed to be the only thing that got people to realising that Missy was still an actual person, with a life of her own that didn't resolve around murder.

"Please…" she whispered, "have some mercy on your oldest friend…"


	19. Under the lake

"That's not right," the Doctor murmured as he forced the TARDIS into landing, a mystery tour he claimed, but the groaning from the box wasn't quite right. Where ever they were, the TARDIS really didn't want to land, which was normally not a good thing.

"Or it could just be your piloting," Raven countered.

"No, not me," he ignored her little dig, to start banter. He was getting at ignoring her comments that tried to get them starting on bantering. He really hated banter and somehow Raven always tricked him. Well, maybe sometimes he did enjoy their banter, the one time he could deal with banter was with her.

He headed out into a dark base, "What's wrong?" He frowned, stroking the corner, "You're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Tell me."

"Come on!" Clara cheered poking her head out the doors to grinning at the Doctor, "we're on a roll!"

"Monsters, things blowing up. Oh, hey, can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries? I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity."

"Doctor!" Raven huffed stepped out onto the metal ground after Clara, "why are we here?"

"Here being?" Clara added, shutting the door behind her, seeing they weren't moving anytime soon.

"Underwater base?" Raven frowned, glancing around, it was artificial lighting and the few windows on the walls did show the dark abyss. Deep underwater it seemed. "Human made."

The Doctor nodded, "The technology's 20nd century. Maybe military, maybe scientific."

"Is there a crew?" Clara wondered, it was rather quiet for a base, especially this deep underwater.

"Must be, somewhere, if there's oxygen." The Doctor reasoned, walking off down the corridor.

"Doctor!" Raven whined, stalking after him.

"I want another adventure." Clara rolled her eyes but followed, "Come on, you feel the same. You're itching to save a planet, I know it."

They walked into the canteen of the base, the room utterly trashed, tables and chairs toppled over, the mural of a dragon on one of the walls deformed by a butter knife lodged into the wall. "Doctor, look at this." Clara called gesturing to the knife stuck in the wall.

"Well. Looks like you got your wish."

"Food fight?"

"I think there was more to it than that. Whatever it was, it happened pretty recently." He stuck a finger in a still full cup of coffee, checking the temperature, "7 or 8 hours ago."

"No bodies, though." Raven murmured, it wasn't like they had anywhere to go or hide all the way down here. Either they had a secret bunker to hide, or all of the crew had been taken.

"And they took provisions." Clara nodded to the open and broke cupboards, seeing that quite a lot of food and beverages were missing, clearly the crew weren't expecting to come back and eat in here anytime soon, "Ok, so something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base."

"Maybe they went for a swim in the creepy flooded village outside."

"Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it." Clara grinned, raising a hand for a high five but the Doctor just turned and left the room, "Oh, come on. Don't leave me hanging. Raven?"

"No." She shook her head and moved after the Doctor.

"Spoil sport," Clara pouted, lowering her hand and following them out a moment later finding the Doctor peeking round a corner to another corridor where two figures were standing.

"See?" He quietly gestured to them, "crew. Hello sailors!" He greeted them, stepping over to them, only to stop seeing they had deep dark sunken eyes, skin and clothes transparent as they stood and looked back at the trio, lips speaking unheard words.

"Didn't see that coming," Raven blinked.

They weren't ghosts, ghosts didn't exist.

"Right, I did not expect that." The Doctor whispered, "Hands up who expected that." He frowned as the two figures walked towards them slowly, "Wait, wait. I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious."

"Are you sure?" Clara breathed as the two 'ghostly figures' stood before them, lips mouthing words.

"Is that..." Raven pointed at one of the figures, a mole like humanoid in a top hat.

"Yeah," the Doctor frowned recognising the species himself. Tivolian, one of the most cowardly species in the universe. "Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?" He eyed them, watching as they silent turned, still muttering and walked away, "Come on."

"Is it wise?" Raven hesitated in following.

"It's fine," he rolled his eyes at her, taking her wrist and tugging her along as she sighed and allowed him to drag her. It was either she walked willingly or he carried her kicking and screaming.

Again.

"What are they?" Clara whispered as they slowly followed, keeping distance. From the Doctors track record they could easily suddenly attack them.

"I haven't a clue." The Doctor smiled, "Isn't that exciting?"

"No." Raven deadpanned as they followed them down the identical corridors until they reached a large room, more or less empty besides the large white spaceship in the middle of the room, the two 'ghostly figures' gone.

"Where did they go?" Clara looked around, "What is it, some kind of submarine?"

"No, it's alien." The Doctor frowned, trying to place it, walking up the ramp inside, running a hand over the large box in the middle of the ship.

"Hey, Doctor!" Raven called, her gaze on one of the ships wall seeing a bunch of untranslated symbols written. "It's not translating." The TARDIS could translate any language, but Type 40s couldn't translate Gallifreyan or Judoon, none could translate Gallifreyan, and with how old and broken the Doctors TARDIS was a couple of other languages were untranslatable nowadays. But most written languages were still able to translate.

"That's weird." The Doctor mused.

Clara glanced back at the faint hissing noise to see the two men had returned, lips mouthing still, "Hey, look, they're back..."

"Hello!" The Doctor greeted cheerily, "Did you want to show us this? It's very nice."

"Wait, are they saying something?" Clara frowned, only now noticing they weren't moving their lips randomly but were trying to form words. Her frown deepened as the black man pulled an axe from the wall, "Ok, they now appear to be arming themselves."

"Never would have guessed that." Raven muttered, "stating the obvious Clara."

"Shut up," Clara glanced at her, seeing the mole-like man taking a harpoon gun.

"Was it something she said?" The Doctor wondered, gesturing to Clara. "She does that. She once had an argument with Gandhi!"

They ducked as the axe was swung at them, lodging into the wall behind them.

"I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner." Clara let out a breath as the harpoon was fired and they dodged, running out of the room as the 'ghosts' walked through the walls after them, the weapons left behind.

Clara gasped as a hand reached through the wall she leaned again, trying to catch her breath as they stopped, a few corridors away, catching their breath.

"In here!" A voice called from the end of the corridor, a woman in a cap, standing at the doors of a faraday cage, "Quick!"

They didn't need telling twice and they ran in, Raven slamming the door shut after herself, the ghosts following, standing before the round window in the door, watching them, unable to enter themselves.

"What are you?" The Doctor eyed them, watching as the ghosts turned and walked away.

"Who the hell are you," one of the men from the small group of humans in the cage, demanded, "and what are you doing here?"

"This is Clara," the Doctor pointed to them in turn, "Raven, and I'm the Doctor." he flashed them the psychic paper.

"You're from UNIT." He gasped.

"Well, if that's what it says."

"I'm Pritchard," he gestured to himself and then the man with glasses besides him, "this is Bennett."

"O'Donnell!" The woman with the cap cut in, shaking the Doctors hand, "Are you really the Doctor? I'm a huge fan! I mean, er, you know. Nice work."

"Tim Lunn," the third man added, "I sign for Cass." He nodded to the young woman besides him who signed hello to them.

"Tell me," the Doctor began, "what about those things out there? What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?"

"Well, they're, er, they're ghosts." The man with glasses offered.

"No," Raven scoffed, "don't be stupid. Ghosts aren't real."

"Cass is saying..." Lunn began as Cass signed.

"Thank you," the Doctor interrupted him, "but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign." He sighed, "Go ahead." And watched as she signed her reply, "No, no, actually, I can't. It's been deleted for semaphore. Someone get me a selection of flags."

"One of the ghosts was the previous commanding officer." Raven translated.

"You know British sign language?" the Doctor gaped at her.

"Uh huh."

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Why? How?"

"People are nicer to you if you ignore them and you just sign random words to you." She shrugged him off, "they assume your deaf and can't hear them."

"Raven!"

"I also just want to learn all languages by the time I'm dead!" She defended.

"Think you might succeed with the rate you're going." Clara muttered. Not only did Raven have the weird almost dying but somehow surviving last minute situation going on, but also late at night or anytime they were just chilling in the TARDIS Raven was pretty much always in the library or her chair in the console room, her face buried in a book or writing down weird squiggles that she could only guess to be some sort of alien language.

"The other," Lunn added, "um moley guy, we don't know what he is."

"He's from the planet Tivoli." Raven stated, having recognised him instantly.

Bennett smirked at the others, "I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?"

"Weird thing is, they're not violent." The Doctor remarked, "They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details. When did they first appear?"

"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar?" O'Donnell asked, "Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got...Moran was killed."

"Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us." Lunn continued for Cass, "So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here."

"What is this place?" Clara frowned.

"Faraday cage." Raven answered her, "Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently," she glanced out the window a moment, "whatever those things are out there- not ghosts." She added to Bennett.

"So, who's in charge now?" The Doctor inquired, "I need to know who to ignore."

"That would be me." Lunn called, quickly correcting himself as he signed for Cass, "Her." He nodded to her.

"Actually, that would be me." Pritchard stepped forwards, handing the Doctor his card, 'Richard Pritchard, Vice President of Sub-aquatic resources.' "I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil."

"The oil?" The Doctor frowned, tossing the card away, "Where are we?"

"This used to be a military training site." Bennett explained, "There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged."

"Then 20 years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it." Pritchard added.

"Good morning." The computer announced above them, "Entering day mode."

The lights on the base brightened as they entered day mode.

"Ok, it's morning." O'Donnell smiled, "We can go outside now."

"Thank God for that." Lunn let out a long and slow breath.

"At last, we can get out of here." Pritchard sighed in relief.

"Morning?" Clara frowned at the computers words.

"Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight," Bennett informed her, "so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights."

"Like artificial gravity on a space station," Raven added quietly.

"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship," the Doctor mused, "but what about those things that aren't ghosts?"

"Oh, it's all right," O'Donnell assured as she opened the door for them all, "They only come out at night."

"Weird how that is not comforting." Clara murmured.

"Ah, is sweet little Clara afraid of the couple of ghosties?" Raven teased.

"Well, when they're trying to kill us, kind of, yeah."

~.~

The group cautiously walking back into the room with the spaceship, careful to not run into the two not-ghosts, but thankfully the way was clear, no ghosts waiting to attack them.

"If whatever they are..." the Doctor began.

"They're ghosts." Pritchard cut in.

"No," Raven deadpanned, already beginning to get annoyed by this one man in particular. Sometimes she understood why Missy so easily murdered people, "they're not ghosts."

"If they have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?" The Doctor wondered if them.

"That was my call." The man straightened, "We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it what if it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."

"It's ok, I understand. You're an idiot. Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?"

"It's the mining equipment." Bennett explained, "It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak."

"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor. Anything else I should know?" He called round them, "Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?"

"It all started with this ship." Raven remarked, eying the symbols on the words again as the Doctor crouched down before the hatch on the floor, "This is where the answer will be."

"What's happened to the stuff you've removed?" The Doctor asked seeing one of the power cells missing under the hatch, as well as the ship being far too empty for what it should have been, "This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing."

"Power cell?" Pritchard frowned, moving to join them seeing the one large cell remaining.

"Yeah. You can see the casing is empty."

"What's the matter?" Clara asked, looking over to where Lunn and Cass seemed to be signing an argument.

"She won't let me look inside the spaceship." Luna huffed, "She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here."

"I imagine they're pretty valuable." Pritchard mused after a moment.

"What?" The Doctor looked at him.

"I mean powerful." He quickly corrected himself, "Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty powerful."

"Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark."

"And the missing one must still be out there."

"Yes, well, otherwise. Sorry, why is this man still talking to me?" He huffed at Raven.

Usually when they ended up calling to an idiot Raven would call the man out on his idiotic and they finally get to speak to someone better. Why was it always the leaders who were idiots and powerful?

"We haven't removed anything." O'Donnell swore, "There hasn't been time."

Raven eyed Pritchard as he silently snuck away to find the power cell before she turned to the group, "so your...friend. He died and then he and moley guy appeared and began attacking you."

"Pretty much." O'Donnell sighed.

"They can walk through walls." The Doctor listed their qualities, trying to figure out what they could possibly be, "They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through."

"Doctor," Clara frowned at his sudden changed expression, "wait, you're not saying..."

"They're ghosts!" He grinned, "Yeah, ghosts."

"Ghosts aren't real, you idiot," Raven snapped at him.

"You actually pooh-poohed the ghost theory." Clara agreed.

"Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as, as socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were." The Doctor defended, "Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead. Wow. This is, it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost."

"Because they're not real." Raven huffed.

"Moran was our friend." Luna glared besides Cass, both glaring at him.

"The cards," Clara hissed in his ear.

"Oh! Oh, right you are." He nodded pulling out a stack of cards written in Clara's handwriting and fumbled around for a particular one.

"Oh, come here." Clara took them off him and shifted through them. After having to apologise to everyone so much because the Doctor wasn't all that great with sympathy she had written down a load of apologies to use. Some had been for past events while others were for future defence, more were always getting written. They were very useful.

She handed him the perfect card, "Ahem." The Doctor cleared his throat, reading the card, "I'm very sorry for your loss. I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend/family member/pet." He grinned as everyone stared at him as he put the cards away again. Those cards really were brilliant, all he had to do with read them and no one could complain he was rude, "But don't you see what this means? Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects?" he blinked, "Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so!" He took a breath, realising he was rambling on a bit to much as everyone's stares were deepening, "Calm, Doctor, calm. You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey. Question one. What is a ghost? Question two. What do they want?"

"I'd take a guess and say to kill us." Raven muttered, they had already tried that once, attacking them with an axe and harpoon gun.

Not exactly how she was planning on dying, not that she planned her death.

They all looked up as the lights suddenly went out.

"Whoa, what's happening?" O'Donnell gasped.

"Good evening." The computer called, "Entering night mode."

"That's not right." O'donnell shook her head as she raced out of the room, everyone following her to the control room as she rolled into the chair before the computers to change it back, "We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!"

Bennett frowned hearing a distant ringing in the distance, "Er, what's doing that?"

"Isn't that...?" Raven began.

"The TARDIS Cloister Bell!" The Doctor shouted, running out.

"Every time," Raven huffed, she and Clara quickly moving to follow through the corridors and back to the TARDIS.

"What's wrong?" Clara gasped, as the bells tolled around them.

"It must be the ghosts." The Doctor reasoned.

"They're not ghosts." Raven groaned. Ghost just didn't exist, it was a fact. They couldn't possibly exist in the universe.

"That's why she was upset when we got here."

"Why?" Clara shook her head, "I don't understand."

"It's just what I was saying." The Doctor remarked, "You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations. A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them."

"So, what do we do?"

He pulled down a lever on the console, the bells silencing, "Put the handbrake on." Clara tossed her leather jacket aside and headed back out, "Whoa! Ho, ho, ho, ho!" He called after her, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out there, where the action is." She jerked her head to the doors.

"Look, you, er..."

"What?"

"Oh, this is my own fault. I like adventures as much as the next man. If the next man is a man who likes adventures. Even so, don't, don't go native."

"What do you mean?" She laughed slightly at his words, "I'm not."

"Look, there's a whole dimension in here, but there's only room for one me."

"Wait a second. You just raved about ghosts like a kid who had too much sherbet."

"Do you know what you need? You need a hobby."

"I really don't." Clara shook her head.

"Or even better, another relationship. Come on, you lot, you're bananas about relationships. You're always writing songs about them, or going to war, or getting tattooed..."

"Doctor, I'm fine." Clara smiled at his concern.

Of course when Danny had died she hadn't been in the best place, even going as far as to cause a paradox and believing she had thrown the TARDIS keys into lava, but now that she had had the time to mourn she felt a lot better. She kept on going, still teaching and still adventuring knowing that was what Danny would have wanted her to do. He wouldn't have wanted her to be sad about him for the rest of her life. She wasn't sure if she was quite ready for another relationship just yet, she didn't want a repeat of what happened and she especially didn't want to risk anyone else getting caught up in the dangerous situations they got into.

"I just felt that I had to say something."

"I know. And I appreciated it."

"Because I've got a duty of care."

"Which you take very seriously," Raven mocked.

He turned to her, "I'm there for you, Raven."

"You don't have to be though. I'm over 1000 years old!"

He frowned, "still a little girl. I just... don't want to see you hurt."

"You can shut up now," she glared, "nothing is going to happen and actually I'd really like to you stop. Just stop!" She didn't know why she was raising her voice, it was just naturally growing with her words, "Alright! You're not my dad."

"I'm not trying to be." He swore.

"Good. Cuz you're not him."

"And you're not my daughter."

It was just with how at first they had both insisted they were not related when people assumed that but rather quickly had he stopped arguing, usually just stating they weren't related while she still complained a hell of a lot. That began to bug her. She preferred it when he complained at people thinking they were related. She tried very hard to ensure people knew otherwise. She was still her mothers daughter.

She nodded. "Just checking you knew that."

"Can we go back out there now?" Clara cut in.

~.~

"Attention, all crew." O'Donnell spoke over the comms, back in the control room, "The Drum has switched to night mode early so grab provisions and make your way to the Faraday cage. Pritchard, you are unaccounted for. Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately. Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!"

"O'Donnell, it's okay." Bennett replied as he and Clara gathered supplies for the night, gathering as much as they could carry, "Pritchard's in here!"

"Pritchard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early. In case I can't get this back into day mode." She turned of the comm, typing away to try and switch back into day mode.

"Need a hand?" Raven offered, "I'm pretty good at hacking Earth technology."

"Oh, yeah," O'Donnell shifted to give Raven room to help, "see if you can hack the system." She focused on one of the computers as Raven began to work on the other one, working together to hack into the system, managing to revert back into daytime.

"Yes," O'Donnell cheered.

"Good morning. Now entering day mode." The computer announced.

~.~

The group stood in the control room, Clara and Bennett having returned informing the group that Pritchard had become a ghost himself and attacked them with a chair. And so they now stood looking at the camera showing the man had snuck out to no doubt look for the missing power cell and had returned but before he could leave the airlock Moran had flooded the room, leaving Pritchard to drown.

"They're working out how to use the base against us." The Doctor remarked as the footage cut off, "Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning."

"And now there's 3 of them." Clara sighed.

"Cass, what do we do?" Bennett turned to her, she was now in charge with Pritchard dead.

"We abandon the base." Lunn spoke for her, "Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever."

"Wait," the Doctor shook his head, "wait."

"I can't force you to leave," Cass signed to them, "so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew."

"Are we staying?" Raven whispered.

"Of course." The Doctor replied.

"Great." Sometimes she wondered why she bothered asking.

"O'Donnell, contact Topside." Luna instructed for Cass, "Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders."

The woman nodded moving to the headset to contact them, "Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over."

"Drum Control, this is Topside." They responded instantly, "We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over."

Raven shared a glance with the Doctor at that.

"Repeat, Topside. Over."

"We've received your request for a rescue sub." Topside continued, "It's 2 minutes away. Over."

"Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made?" O'Donnell asked them, "Over."

"Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over."

The Doctor snatched the headset from O'donnell speaking to topside himself, "Topside, this is the Doctor, UNIT security visa seven one zero Apple zero zero. You may be familiar with my work. Call back the sub."

"Doctor, why would...?"

"Call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base is now under quarantine." And with that he hung up. The decision made.

"What did you do that for?" Bennett demanded, Topside was there only way out.

"Who sent the message?" Raven countered, looking at them as they kept silent. It hadn't been any of them, "none of you? Which means those..." she closed her eyes a moment bracing herself for the next word to leave her mouth. But they didn't have a better name for them, "ghosts. They sent it. Which means they would want as many people down here as they can get."

"Why would they do that?" Lunn frowned, speaking for himself.

"Well, I don't know," the Doctor muttered, "but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band. Ok. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?"

"It's mainly atmospheric." O'Donnell shrugged, "The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled."

Raven shook her head, "something else."

"The diagnostic sweep." Lunn called as Cass signed, "When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power."

"What systems specifically?" The Doctor looked at them.

"Life support, the locks." O'Donnell remarked. "They're electromagnetic. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds."

"The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it."

"Doctor, what do we do?" Clara asked him.

"O'Donnell." The Doctor spun to her, "Excellent work, returning the base to day mode."

"Er, I helped." Raven huffed, annoyed the human was getting compliment. If she hadn't offered to help they would probably still be in night mode.

"You're not my dad." He mocked her words from earlier.

"Oh, ouch," she placed a hand in the centre of her chest, mocking being deeply hurt, "using my own words against me. To get out of a compliment. Impressive!"

O'Donnell seemed very happy with the Doctor she heard so much about actually complimenting her, "Shut up." She giggled, "it was nothing...you really think so?"

He smiled at her, "Now put it back into night mode."

"What!" She gasped.

"We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not anymore. So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. If not, Raven will do it."

"On it!" She called standing before the computers, having moved as soon as he said about returning to night mode having assumed the human would complain knowing then the ghosts would come back out to attack them.

"We want to know what these ghosts are after." The Doctor remarked, "We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost."

~.~

Raven slowly paced as she stood in the corridor just outside of the faraday cage, listening into the comm everyone had been given to communicate to each other as they tried to capture the ghosts. Bennett had gone to find the ghosts, leading them off where Clara then cut him off, the ghosts changing course and following her, listening to the directions the Doctor called in his ear as he stood in the control room watching the cameras with o'Donnell. Lunn then cut her off as she hid in a flood corridor, the Pritchard ghost moving after him but Moran and the mole man continued after Clara, not part of the plan. But they had managed to get the three together chasing Bennett and he ran down the corridor towards Raven, nodding as he hid from the ghosts round the corner, panting as he leaned against the walls.

"Raven now!" The Doctor shouted in her ear.

She jumped out of view as the ghosts walked down, flashing her sonic and a hologram of herself appeared standing in the faraday cage which the ghosts advanced in and she quickly slammed the door on them, turning the hologram off as she peeked inside at the trapped ghosts.

"Got them," she breathed, "all three are locked and loaded."

"On my way," he replied.

"What are you?" Raven whispered watching them through the window, not once had they stopped muttering away. They definitely weren't ghosts. It was impossible, ghost couldn't exists, when you died you died, you didn't come back half alive, especially to kill everyone.

"We need to talk." The Doctor stated joining raven at the cage making her jump from his sudden voice against the silence, "sorry," he winced, he should have cleared his throat or something as warning. Being around ghosts, whether you believe in them or not, they always made one a little jumpy, "Cass, are you seeing this?" The Doctor asked, adjusting his sonic glasses to allow the woman to see the ghosts back in the control room, "Sonic glasses Wi-Fi locked in. On screen B2."

"She says she can't see them properly." Luna called. "The glass is too thick and they're too far away."

"Open the door" he instructed, "They don't have any weapons or access to any of the controls. They can't hurt me, so open the door."

Back in the main control room O'Donnell unlocked the faraday cage door and the Doctor stepped in, the door shutting behind him again, leaving Raven watching from outside. Moran reached into the Doctors chest, the man grimacing from the uncomfortable feeling.

"Cold, isn't it?" He asked, "Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Cass?" He called in the comm, adjusting the sonic glasses showing the ghosts so that the woman could lip read what they were muttering about.

"She says they're saying the same thing," Lunn called, "the same phrase, over and over. They're saying the dark. The score...no, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple."

"The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple."

"Just that." Lunn agreed, "Over and over."

"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple." The Doctor repeated quietly, "What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man?" He frowned a moment longer before gasping, realising exactly what the words meant, "Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us."

"They're coordinates," the Doctor stated back in the control room as he laid out a selection of maps on the table before them.

"How can they be coordinates?" Bennett scoffed.

"The dark? Space. So, whoever's following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet. The sword?" He handed Bennett an apple to hold and then gave O'Donnell a knobby ball, a tennis ball to Clara and a place mat to Raven who rolled her eyes at him, all four standing and holding them up at a slight angle. "Orion's sword. The sword, the three stars, although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula, hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer." He took the objects back and set them on the maps, "The forsaken. The forsaken or abandoned or empty town. See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over. And every time they kill one of us..."

"It strengthens the signal." Clara realised, "Another ghost, another transmitter."

"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub!" O'Donnell gasped.

"The more people down here," Raven nodded, "the more ghosts to send out the coordinates."

"But why are they beaming out the coordinates?" Lunn asked for Cass, "Is it a distress call?"

"It could be." The Doctor agreed, "Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself. Wait a minute, though. Wait a minute. Do you know what this means? It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters."

"As I said, they're not ghosts," Raven drawled.

"But what do the coordinates lead to, though?" O'Donnell wondered, "To us? To the ghosts? What?"

"Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking. Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?"

"The temple." Cass realised, Lunn translating for her, "The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?"

"Finally." The Doctor sighed, "It's like pulling teeth. This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this..." he shifted through the map moving an old photograph on the top of an old military town, a long narrow building with an annex projecting from one end.

"A church?" Clara frowned.

"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them."

"Wait, you're not suggesting that?" Bennett gasped, "But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here."

"No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went. You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know, you have chosen to protect and serve. He gestured to Cass, Lunn and O'donnell, "You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge." And then at Bennett, "None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."

"Cass says we should go," Lunn translated for her, "but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay. So I, er, guess I should too."

"Well, count me in." O'Donnell grinned, "Who wants to live forever, anyway?"

"Sorry, er, have you gone insane?" Bennett gasped at his team, "We can go home." He sighed, taking of his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts," he questioned, talking himself into staying, "Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."

~.~

The group watched the computer screen as a camera drifted through the town outside with Bennett controlling it by virtual reality goggles, gloves used for steering to move around looking for the church.

"Ok, the sub is approaching the town square." Bennett remarked, "Which way is the church?"

"North-north-west, 140 yards." O'Donnell called, "That's it. Starboard 2 degrees."

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Clara shook her head.

"Something that has the power to raise the dead and turn them into transmitters." The Doctor replied, "I expect we'll know it when we see it."

"Wait, I've found the church." Bennett called, finding the long narrow building.

"That's it, keep going."

"That!" Raven yelled, pointing at the large white casket in the debris amongst the ground. "That's the suspended animation chamber from the ship!"

"Raven!" The Doctor moaned as she took off back to the ship. "I thought you actually listen to the not wandering off rule."

"Sorry what?" She blinked at him, "I don't listen to a word you say. I just usually agree with you."

"Right." He huffed. He didn't know if she did listen to him and was just saying that or if she didn't and did really just agree with him.

"So could the pilot be in there?" Clara wondered.

"There's something inside there." The Doctor nodded, moving and pressing an ear against it, "But it's deadlock sealed. I can't open it. It should be the pilot, it should be. So why do I think it isn't? More questions. Everything I solve, just more questions. I have to go back to the beginning. We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then they try to kill us."

"The untranslatable symbols," Raven nodded to them, flashing her sonic at them, "why can't the TARDIS translate them? Surely you couldn't have possibly broken her that much."

"Thanks." He scoffed.

She ignored him looking down to where Cass and Lunn stood outside the ship, "you didn't want Lunn entering the ship. Why?"

"The markings on the inside of the spaceship." Lunn answered for her.

"Why?"

"I don't think they're just words."

"My sonic says they're magnets," Raven turned back to the Doctor, "second opinion?"

He flashed the sonic glasses at the words, getting the same result, "magnets." He agreed.

"Magnets?" Bennett shook his head, "How?"

"Well, a localised and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise. The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that?" They all stared, realising they hadn't been surprised, "No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us."

"So that writing is the coordinates?" O'Donnell followed.

"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired. Clara," he spun to her, "why don't I have a radio in the TARDIS?

"You took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel."

"And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with. Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand. Don't you see? These words are an earworm. A song you can't stop humming, even after you die."

"Except you didn't know how to do it so you made Raven do it for you and took all the credit." Clara continued as Raven smirked over at the Doctor.

"I hoped you didn't figure that out," he muttered.

"It was pretty obvious." Raven deadpanned.

Clara shook her head, getting them back to the main topic at hand, "ok, so, the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he/she/it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber..."

"Waiting for their mates to pick the message up." Raven nodded.

"My God." The Doctor breathed, "Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death."

"Ew." Raven grimaced.

~.~

"Attention, all crew." The computer announced as a arming alarm blared, "Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures."

O'Donnell gasped running over to a control panel on the wall, the words 'flooding initiated Reactor Malfunction emergency Cooling' flashing in bright red, "Oh, no." She cried, "The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base."

"Cass says, close the internal flood doors." Lunn instructed for her, "That'll contain the water in the central corridor."

"Where's the TARDIS?" The Doctor looked at them.

"On the other side." O'Donnell winced, having seen them run to the box earlier and noticed the box was on the other side of the flood doors.

"The TARDIS is the only way out, we have to get to her." Raven determined.

"Ok," O'Donnell typed on the touch screen, "We've got 30 seconds before the flood doors close."

The group ran through the corridors, O'Donnell and Bennett making it through first, followed by the Doctor, the first flood door shutting just as Raven ran through the water that was slowly rising.

"Doctor!" Clara cried, as she, Cass and Lunn were trapped on the other side.

Raven glanced back at her, and down at the rising water at her ankles before diving through the other closing flood door. There wasn't anything she could have done. The door had shut. It was either she followed the Doctor or drowned in the water. She really hated how she felt bad about that.

The Doctor activated the intercom on their side, gesturing for Clara to do the same, looking through the windows as the water rose. "I'll get you and the others out." He swore, "Sit tight, I'll come back for you."

"Just come over here in the TARDIS now." She argued.

"But the TARDIS won't go there," Raven sighed, "doesn't like the ghosts. Wanted to leave before we even arrived remember?"

"You can't just leave us!"

"Listen to me." The Doctor cut in, "I'm going back in time to when this spaceship landed. If I can understand why this is happening, I can stop them killing anyone else. I can save you. You trust me, don't you, Clara?"

The water rose up to the windows but they could just make out the woman's distorted nod from the other side. And that was all they needed to turn and continue back to the TARDIS.

"Wait, you're going to go back in time?" Bennett frowned, "How do you do that?"

"Extremely well." The Doctor answered.

Raven pursed her lips at that, "debatable."

"Really?" He could only sigh at her.

"So...when are we going?" Raven quizzed.

"Back before the flood."


	20. Before the Flood

"You've got to be kidding," was the first words out of Ravens mouth as the TARDIS materialised in the town before it was flooded. It was really unbelievably, badly made even for humans. Complete with fake shops and cardboard cut outs of people for target practice, a few damaged by bullets.

The Doctor eyed her as he followed her out, "you say that a lot."

"There's a lot of things that seem too fake to be real," she shrugged.

He nodded at that, glancing back as O'donnell stepped out in a spare coat from the TARDIS, "Where's Bennett? We need to get going."

"Oh, he's still throwing up." She remarked. "One small step for man, one giant bleaurgh."

"Oh, time travel does that sometimes."

"Somehow I doubt that Rose or Martha or Amy lost their breakfast on their first trip."

"You seem to know an awful lot about me." He eyed her.

"I used to be in military intelligence." She explained, "I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window."

"In anger?" Raven asked.

"Is there another way to dangle someone out a window? What year are we in?"

The Doctor licked a finger and held it up, "1980."

"So, pre-Harold Saxon." Raven inhaled sharply at her words, if O'Donnell knew of that and of Martha Jones then chances were she knew exactly who she was and likely recognised her. At least she kept it to herself, or just like any other human was oblivious, "Pre-the Minister of War. Pre-the moon exploding and a big bat coming out."

"The Minister of War?" The Doctor frowned. "No, never mind. I expect I'll find out soon enough."

"Sorry about that." Bennett apologised as he finally stepped out, "Had a prawn sandwich. Might have been off."

"Ah ha. Don't worry. Shall we go?"

"Just one sec, I've just got something in my boot." O'donnell said as she clung to Bennett for support.

The Doctor nodded him and Raven moving on to the edge of the fake train station platform they had landed on, leaving O'Donnell and Bennett to catch them up.

They walked down the high street, passing a red phone box with a poster of Stalin on.

"Why have we gone to Russia?" Bennett frowned at the poster. He was sure they said they were going to the town before it flooded, but that was in Scotland, everything around here looked Russian.

"Er, we haven't." The Doctor shook his head, "We're still in Scotland. This is the town before it flooded. The TARDIS has brought us to when the spaceship first touched down. But here and now, it's the height of the Cold War. The military were being trained for offensives on Soviet soil."

As it was in the future, the spaceship was set with the ramp down before the church, inside the stasis chamber was still in place, a mummy on the other side.

"Oh, is that the pilot?" O'Donnell gasped, "My God, look at size of it."

"It's just the body," Raven corrected.

"What do you mean, the body?"

"This isn't just any spaceship." The Doctor agreed, "It's a hearse."

"The suspended animation chamber's still here, and the power cells for the engine." Bennett called from where he crouched before the hatch seeing the two power cells still in place.

"And there are no markings on the wall." O'Donnell noted.

"Yet." Raven muttered.

"Must you always be the bearer of bad news?" The Doctor sighed.

She shrugged, "chose my name well really, didn't I?"

Ravens were commonly known on earth as bad omens, mostly thought to be omens of death and other bad news. She lived up to her chosen name perfectly.

They left the ship, as the mole man with a top hat ran to meet them, waving a handkerchief and carrying a suitcase, "greetings."

"It's him." O'donnell gasped, "That's the ghost from the Drum."

"Remarkable." He breathed, peering at the Doctor inches away from physical contact, "Oh, and humans, too. Albar Prentis, Funeral Director," he handed the four a business card each, 'Albar Prentis Universal Funeral Director. May the remorse be with you.'

Raven stared at hers in disbelieve as the Doctor tossed his away and she too flung hers to the ground.

"You're from Tivoli, aren't you?" Bennett eyed him.

"The most invaded planet in the galaxy!" He bowed deeply, "Our capital city has a sign saying, if you occupied us, you'd be home by now."

"Yes, I've had dealings with your lot before." The Doctor remarked, "I can't say I'm a fan."

"No, we do tend to antagonise." He laughed.

"If I ever get as cowardly as them," Raven whispered to the Doctor, "please shoot me."

"No," he shook his head softly, "I can't do that." Raven could never be as cowardly or intimidated as those from Tivoli, she was far too clever for that and if she ever did then he would simply help her overcome it. "What are you doing here?" He asked Prentis.

"Ah, yes. Of course." Prentis nodded vigorously running up the ramp into the ship, "This is the Fisher King. He and his armies invaded Tivoli and enslaved us for ten glorious years! Until we were liberated by the Arcateenians. But, thank the Gods, soon we'd irritated them so much, they enslaved us, too!"

"My first proper alien, and he's an idiot." Bennett sighed, cleaning his glasses on his shirt.

"And now, in accordance with Arcateenian custom, I've come to bury him on a barren, savage outpost."

"You mean the town?" O'Donnell frowned.

"He means the planet." Raven corrected.

Prentis ran back over to the Doctor, either oblivious to the man leaning back at the invasion of personal space or ignoring him, "Although, at the risk of starting a bidding war, you could enslave me. In the ship I have directions to my planet and a selection of items that you can oppress me with."

"Listen, we've come from the future." The Doctor interrupted, "You're about to send some sort of signal. How do you do it? Is it a special pen?"

"What are you talking about?" He shook his head with a laugh.

"The technology you use. The thing that wrenches the soul out of the body and makes it repeat your coordinates for eternity. Give it to me now, I'm going to take the batteries out."

"We don't have anything like that. Even this belongs to the glorious Arcateenians."

"So who sends the message?" Raven wondered.

The Time Lords shared a look before slowly looking back at the mummified Fisher King. Seemed the dead body wasn't actually dead.

"Back to the TARDIS." The Doctor ordered, "I need to talk to Clara."

~.~

"Doctor?" Clara picked up after a few rings as they huddled around the monitor, face timing the woman, "are you alright?"

"Fine," he waved her off, not noticing her wide eyes, if he did he would have mentioned it.

"So the spaceships a hearse," Raven remarked only to notice Claras worried and disbelieving expression, "everything alright at your end?"

She swallowed as she set the phone down against something to go hands free, "Another ghost has appeared."

"What?" The Doctor frowned, "Who? Has someone died?"

"Doctor, it's you."

"Oh thanks God," Raven sighed, "I mean no offence," she quickly added to the Doctor, "but I mean, I do have the habit of almost getting killed. Least it's not me and you can still continue with your duty of care. Well, at least until you die..." she trailed realising she wasn't exactly helping and fell silent, looking to Clara for help.

"Are you ok?" Clara asked.

"Yeah." He nodded slowly, "Well, currently."

"What does it mean?"

"It means I die."

"No, not necessarily. We can change the sequence of events so..."

"This isn't a potential future. This is the future now. It's already happened. The proof is right there in front of you. I have to die."

"No." Clara argued, "You can change things."

"I can't. Even the tiniest change, the ramifications could be catastrophic. It could spread carnage and chaos across the universe like ripples on a pond. Oh, well, I've had a good innings. This regeneration, it's a bit of a clerical error anyway." He shrugged, "I've got to go sometime."

"Not with me!" She snapped, "Die with whoever comes after me. You do not leave me."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Raven groaned, "but Clara is right. I mean," she shrugged, "come on. We haven't even found Gallifrey yet. You made a promise to take me home!" She glared at him, "do not break that promise, Doctor."

He sighed, he had promised to take her home, Missy wouldn't do it, god knows how she managed to escape Gallifrey in the first place she wouldn't go back unless there was good reason, and just taking Raven home again wouldn't be good enough for her, even for Raven, "Clara, I need to talk to you just on your own." Raven spun the monitor to the other end of the console, a short nod to give them privacy as she ushered the two humans to the stairs leading to the upper gallery and she moved and flopped down on the armchair. It wasn't like she couldn't hear the conversation anyway, but just that little distance was good for them.

"Listen to me." The doctor said lowly, "We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's."

"I'm not ready yet." She shook her head, "I don't want to think about that, not yet."

"I can't change what's already happened. There are rules."

"So break them. And anyway, you owe me. You've made yourself essential to me. You've given me something else to, to be. And you can't do that and then die. It's not fair."

"Clara..."

"No. Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt. Or you damn duty of care! If you love me in any way, you'll come back. Doctor, are you?"

He sighed heavily, "I can't save Moran or Pritchard."

"No, but like you said, if you can, if you can find out why this is happening, maybe you can stop them killing anybody else, you can save us. And you can stop it happening to you."

"I'll do what I can," he told her, "but the future has already happened. We've just met the Undertaker and he's still alive."

Raven rolled her eyes as he moved the monitor back round, so much for the man who can't be control, the control freak had just ordered him to change the future and he was going to give it a go. They had already gone to hell because she had asked. Honestly, she was a tiny bit fearful of just how far the Doctor would go from the small human with doe eyes.

"So." He cleared his threat, "Ghost me. You've got a better view than me. How do I look? Any signs of trauma, any scars? Any clues as to how I die?"

"No, nothing." Clara frowned, "You're the same as all the other ghosts with the weird black eyes and. No. No, wait. Your coat. It's torn. The right shoulder." She moved her phone holding it up to the window where the ghost Doctor stood floating in the water outside, exactly like the other ghosts with sunken eyes and semi-transparent skin but a slight tear on his coat.

"And he's saying the same as the others?" Raven inquired, moving back down to the console now the pros are conversation was over.

"No. You're saying a list of names. Our names, mainly. Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell, Raven, Clara, Doctor, Bennett, Cass. Who's Prentis?"

"Mole-face." Raven replied only to hear Clara gasp and the phone drop to the floor.

"What's the matter?" The Doctor called urgently, "Clara, what's happening?"

"You've moved inside." She gasped, picking the phone back up again as she backed away from the window, "You're inside here now."

"What am I doing?"

"Er, nothing. You're, you're just standing there."

"And he isn't trying to kill you?" Raven frowned.

"No, wait, you're moving, going toward the control panel. Oh, no. He's opened the Faraday cage. He's let the other ghosts out."

"I need to talk to me now." The Doctor determined.

"Didn't you hear me? You opened the Faraday cage. The other ghosts are outside. Shouldn't we be hiding?"

"In a minute. I need to talk to the ghost me."

Clara huffed, setting the phone back down, the camera facing the ghost-Doctor, "Ok, Doctor, you're on."

"Doctor." The Doctor greeted, "Such an honour. I've always been a huge admirer. This is really a delight. Finally someone worth talking to. So firstly, why are you here?" But his ghost just turned away.

"Oh that's definitely you." Raven smirked.

"Oi!"

"Er, you, you've just stopped." Clara explained, "Oh, no, wait, you've started again."

"His message has changed." Lunn called, no doubt translating for Cass, "He's saying something different. He's saying..."

"What?" Raven frowned at the pause.

"What?" The Doctor agreed.

"He's saying, the chamber will open tonight." Lunn continued.

"Clara, now the ghosts are out, go to the Faraday cage." The Doctor instructed, "They won't be able to get you in there."

"Oh, but that's a problem," Raven moaned, "no phone signal in there."

The Doctor groaned quietly at that, "What you'll have to do, Clara, put the phone outside, and you can watch it through the little round porthole. And when you see it ringing, if it's safe to do so, go out and answer it."

"Ok," she nodded, "how long are you going to..."

"Clara, listen to me." He cut her off, "Don't let that phone out of your sight. I need to be able to reach you, I need to know everything my ghost does. Do you understand? I'll come back for you. I swear."

Clara gave a final nod to him before hanging up, herself, Cass and Lunn running to the faraday cage.

"Come on." The Doctor led them to the doors only to turn and point at O'donnell, "Oh, wait a minute. Not you, O'Donnell."

"Why not?" she huffed.

"Someone needs to stay here and mind the shop. What if Clara calls?"

"The last bloke that said something like that to me got dangled out of a window."

"Maybe the Doctor's right." Bennett agreed, "Maybe it's best if you stay here."

"Never going to happen." She scoffed, barging past, "Seriously, have you met me?"

"Raven…" the Doctor murmured as Bennett quickly followed O'Donnell out.

"I know." She swallowed, there was no way he could save O'Donnell and then it would be her.

What was it with her and nearly dying?

~.~

"Prentis!" The Doctor yelled as they ran back to the ship only to find him laying on the bandages in the ship, the suspension chamber gone, the Fisher King nowhere in sight, "Prentis!" He checked for a pulse finding nothing.

"Guess that dead body wasn't so dead after all." O'Donnell remarked.

"And now we've got the writing." Bennett noted seeing the symbols where no scratched into the wall.

"The Fisher King did it himself." The Doctor sighed, "The future is still coming."

"And he's taken the suspended animation chamber to the church." Raven added seeing it was gone. She jumped as they all heard a loud roar from a story distance away.

"What was that?" O'Donnell gasped.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor ordered, "Now!" They ran back in the direction of the TARDIS but another roar, louder this time, caused them to duck down a small alley. "It's cut us off." The Doctor led them in one of the abandoned buildings.

"Let's split up." O'Donnell decided, "Go on, Bennett." She ushered the men off, dragging Raven after her despite the girls complaints, running into what looked like a living room. "Hide!" O'Donnell hissed hearing loud stomping from the Fisher King.

"Where?" She hissed back as O'Donnell ducked behind the semi open door.

There was no where she could hide but the stomping was approaching and she wasn't going to stay and die. She stuck off out of the other door, running off.

~.~

The Doctor and Bennett ran. To the fake bathroom, Bennett ramming a chair under the door handle for extra safety.

The men paused as the stomping quietened, only for a scream to be heard. O'Donnell.

"No, Bennett!" The Doctor cried as the man took off, "Wait!" he hurried after him.

"Why did you come?" The man murmured dropping to his knees before the moaning and dying O'Donnell, "You shouldn't have come. I mean, you never listen to anyone. It drives me mad."

"To keep an eye on you, idiot." She gasped for breath, "So, don't die."

"No." he promised as O'Donnell exhaled and closed her eyes. "Who's next on the list?" Bennett asked the Doctor as he stood facing the man who stood a respectful distance away. "That list your ghost was saying, that's the order in which people are going to die, isn't it? I mean, I've only just figured that out. But you knew that all along, didn't you? Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell..."

"I thought perhaps," he began softly, "because her ghost wasn't there in the future, like Prentis's was, I thought maybe, maybe it wouldn't happen. Maybe she stood a chance."

"Yeah, but you didn't try very hard to stop her, though, did you? It was almost like you wanted to test your theory. So who's next?"

"Raven."

"Yeah. Yeah. Except now you're going to do something about it, aren't you? Yeah, because it's getting closer to you. You change history to save yourself but not to save O'Donnell. You wouldn't save her. "

"This isn't about saving me. I'm a dead man walking. I'm changing history to save Raven." He blinked, realising it was just the two of them, Raven not in sight, "Raven...where's Raven? Raven!" He yelled. Raven was next on the list and alone with the Fisher King wandering around.

"I'm alright." She responded poking her head out from behind the door, "not dead. Yet."

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief as he moved to her side, "you're alright."

"For now anyway."

~.~

"Big day for you." The Doctor announced as they walked back in the TARDIS, "Time travel, twice!"

Bennett, who had been quiet on the walk back, blinked, "Whoa, really? When are we going to?"

"Off the map. Out of the rule book. What if I don't die? What if I refuse? I'm going to go back to the base and I'm going to save Raven and Clara, because that's what I do. And I don't see anyone here who's going to stop me." He looked at the pair of them as they rematerialised, stepping out again only to find themselves back in the small town, round the corner from where they had originally materialised earlier.

"Why are we still here?" He frowned at that, noticing their earlier selves and quickly ducked behind the wall, "No. No, no, no, no, no. We've moved half an hour backwards. I'm locked in my own time stream. The TARDIS won't let me leave."

"Well, what do we do?" Bennett asked.

"Now we have to keep out of sight, until time catches up."

They walked back to the ship, avoiding their others selves noticing Prentis, hiding behind a group of bins to avoid being seen.

"Prentis." Bennett breathed, "He's alive."

"No, he's just not dead yet." Raven corrected

"And we don't tell him." The Doctor added, warningly.

"Yeah, but he's right there." Bennett argued, getting up, "I mean, we can just."

"No!" The Doctor pushes him back down again, into the wall, "However that sentence ends, no, we can't. Save him, and you'll want to save O'Donnell. You can't cheat time. I just tried. You can't just go back and cut off tragedy at the root. Because you find yourself talking to someone you just saw dead on a slab. Because then you really do see ghosts. We don't tell him. Understand? Not a word. We don't have that right."

They waited low and silent until their other selves left Prentis, none of them knowing that in a few minutes time O'Donnell would be dead.

They slowly stood as Prentis turned back to the ship, unknowing they were there as the Doctor noticed the torn sleeve in his coat as he struggled with Bennett, "Oh. I need more time. It's too soon. I haven't saved her yet. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. I've got no choice now, I have to face the Fisher King. You, back to the TARDIS." He turned to Bennett. "Raven...go back with him. If I'm not back after an hour try to get back to the base and get the others out."

"Will do." She saluted mockingly as he rolled his eyes, walking off as Raven coiled a finger to get Bennett to follow.

~.~

"Is it wise leaving him alone?" Bennett wondered, shifting his glasses in his uncertainty.

"Sure! He'll be fine! He's the Doctor! Lots of people try to kill him and failed miserably."

Her mother was famous for trying to kill him and then failing and asking for his help to save her as her plans back fired.

"So what do we do?" Bennett inquired as they entered the TARDIS and Raven ran over to the monitor.

"You just sit and don't talk to me," she pointed at him, "I don't need distracting."

"But what..." he fell silent at her glare.

She ignored him, twiddling with the knob on the monitor to track the Doctor able to get footage of him but no audio. "Ok," she let out a low breath seeing the Doctor in the basement under the church, speaking to something in the shadows. Gods know what he was saying, he was probably just rambling and hoping that it would end up being something that would save him or confuse the Fisher King.

Whatever the Fisher King was saying made the Doctor stagger back, into the suspended animation chamber.

Raven nearly jumped as a large creature in some sort of even larger grey spiky armour, raised a weaponised arm at the Doctor before stomping off again at whatever the Doctor had said.

"Get in the chamber." Raven murmured, "Do it, Doc. Come on, figure it out, you idiot."

There was no possible way the Doctor would have time to get from where he was under the church and back to the TARDIS before the dam broke and the town flooded. Even if he did, it would be far too close for a save take off in the TARDIS. The best thing he could do now was get in the suspended animation chamber and wait until it opened on the drum.

She nodded as the Doctor got in the chamber, sending a wink up at her and rolled her eyes, sending the TARDIS back to the base, "hang on," she warned Bennett, the man grabbing the railing around the sides.

~.~

"Whoa!" Raven cried as she hurried back through the base, leaving Bennett who was dragging behind, only to run into the Doctor and the others.

"With me." He took her hand and pulled her off into the bridge, setting the sonic glasses in a socket on the console, the roar of the Fisher King sounding around them.

"What's that noise?" Clara shook her head.

"It's the call of the Fisher King. The call of their master."

They watched as the ghosts headed down, following the noise to the Faraday cage where the Doctor ghost was creating the roar, "Where are they going?" He pressed on the glasses as the cage door shut behind them, his host disappearing.

"Right." He put the glasses back on his head, "I need to remove the messages from your minds." He set the glasses over Ravens eyes.

"So what was it?" Clara asked, "Your ghost."

"A hologram." He slapped Ravens hands away as she made to remove the glasses herself only to get slapped back and handed the glasses, "Like the one we made of you to lure the ghosts into the Faraday cage. With a soupçon of artificial intelligence, and a few pre-recorded phrases thrown in." He set the glasses over Clara's eyes, removing the message, "All beamed from the sonic glasses." And then removing it from Cass's mind, "As soon as you brought me and the chamber on board, it connected with the base's wi-fi and Bob's your uncle, you've got a ghost Doctor."

"Why did they only come out at night?"

"Because they're electromagnetic projections that were out of phase with the base's day mode. Right." He removed the shades from Cass not needing to do Lunn as he didn't see the message, "That's it. I've erased the memory of the writing. Though you might find you've lost a couple of other memories too. You know, like people you went to school with, or previous addresses or how to drink liquids. That's you lot done." He turned to Raven, "Where's Bennett?"

"Oh, he was dragging behind." She shrugged, "so I left him."

What will happen to them?" Bennett asked as the group approached him standing outside the faraday cage where the ghosts wandered around.

"UNIT will cut out the Faraday cage with them inside and take it away." The Doctor told him, having already contacted the group, and they were already on their way, "Then the space-hearse will be destroyed, so the writing doesn't infect anyone else."

"What do I do now?"

"I don't understand."

"I do." Clara sighed moving to stand besides him, knowing what it was like to lose the person you love to unforeseen circumstances, "You keep going. You have to. Take it from me, there is a whole world out there. A galaxy, a life. What would O'Donnell have wanted?"

"I need to erase that message from your mind," the Doctor added, "but it's fine, I'll do it later."

"Lunn." Bennett turned to the man, "Will you translate something to Cass for me?"

"Of course." Lunn nodded.

"Tell her that you're in love with her and that you always have been."

"What?" Lunn gasped.

"Tell her there is no point wasting time because things happen and then it's too late. Tell her I wish someone had given me that advice."

Lunn passed in the message as Cass eyed them both, "Oh, God, no. I was just passing on what he said. Please, don't feel..." he was cut off as Cass reached up and kissed him.

"Ew." Raven grimaced. She really did not understand humans and their need for relationships.

"What will UNIT do with the ghosts?" Clara asked as they entered the TARDIS, they had left the remaining crew members on the Drum with the rescue sub that, despite them urging them to go back, had still come down. It made their job easier than dropping them off in the TARDIS.

"Drag the cage into space," the Doctor answered as he and Raven sent them off, "away from the Earth's magnetic field. With nothing to sustain them, the ghosts will eventually fade away."

"Here's what I don't understand. You did change the future. You stopped the Fisher King from returning."

"The Fisher King had been dead for a 150 years before we even got here. But once I went back, I became part of events. But here's the thing. The messages my ghost gave, they weren't for you, they were for me. That list. Everyone after you was random, but Raven being the next name, and you after her...that's what made me confront the Fisher King."

"And saying the chamber will open?"

"That was me telling me to get inside and when to set it for."

"Smart." Clara nodded.

"Oh don't encourage him." Raven moaned.

"Shut up." The Doctor nudged her, turning back to Clara, "Except that's not why I said them."

"How do you mean?" Clara shook her head

"I programmed my ghost to say them because that's what my ghost had said. And the only reason I created my ghost hologram in the first place was because I saw it here. I was reverse engineering the narrative."

"Ok, that's still pretty smart."

"You do not understand. When did I first have those ideas, Clara?"

"Wow." She blinked.

"Exactly. Who composed Beethoven's Fifth?"

He had gone to see the man only to find out no one knew about him, so had gotten the sheets signed, and gotten them published himself. So really the Doctor himself was Beethoven. The Bootstrap paradox. Very complicated results of time travel. They still didn't know who really composed Beethovens music.


	21. The girl who died

"Doctor!" Clara's voice shouted through the console room, as he and Raven raced around the console, tracking the woman who was currently floating in deep space in only a simple spacesuit, "Doctor! Raven?"

"Yes, you're the very next thing on the list." The Doctor responded, focusing on keeping the explosions to a minimal as Raven tried to trace the woman.

"Doctor, help me!"

"Clara, we're under attack from four and a bit battle fleets. In case you think we're slacking."

"We?" Raven scoffed at that.

"I'm slacking." He corrected with a huff.

It was never 'we' with Raven unless it suited her.

"Doctor, I think there's something in my space suit." Clara breathed.

"That would possibly be a Love Sprite. You we're far too long in the spider mines."

"What exactly is a Love Sprite?"

The Doctor winced from a spark at the console, "Sucks your brain out through your mouth, hence the name."

"It's halfway up my leg." Clara breathed.

"Don't worry, it's just hungry."

"Doctor..."

"Describe the four most interesting stars you can see." He instructed urgently.

"There's a blue one, quite big. Two little yellowish ones just below."

"Colour of whisky, smaller one blinking?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed, "it's on the back of my neck, I can feel it."

"Great! I thought asphyxiation would kill you first. Can you see a nebula? Can you see a nebula in a sort of wing-shape? Bit green at the end?"

"Yes! Yes, I can."

"Great, I've seen it too. I wondered where it was."

"We're on our way!" Raven called, pulling a lever and materialising around Clara, the Doctor at her side in an instant, pulling of her helmet and stomping on the Love Sprite as Clara coughed, grabbing onto the console to reassure herself that she was now safe.

"How did we do?"

"Oh, not a word about my spot-on materialisation skills." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Whose materialisation skills?" Raven crossed her arms, "in case you haven't already gathered, I materialised us around you." she told Clara.

"Yeah, I know," Clara waved her off as the Doctor huffed, "What about all the Velosians? Are they safe?"

"We lured their attackers halfway across the universe and drained their weapons banks." Raven explained to her.

"Not to mention," the Doctor added, "I also saved a school teacher from having her brains devoured and being asphyxiated in deep space. So, now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go outside and wipe my boot on the grass." He set them down on Earth randomly and walked out.

"What's to stop them re-arming and trying again?" Clara asked following him out.

"Nothing. But the Velosians will be ready for them this time. It's the best I could do, Clara. I'm not actually the police, that's just what it says on the box."

"You're always talking about what you can and can't do but you never tell me the rules."

"We're time travellers. We tread softly. It's okay to make ripples, but not tidal waves."

"You are a tidal wave." Raven called as she followed them out into the darkened forest having had a quick glimpse where they were. Oh, the Doctor was not going to like this. She could not wait to see his face when the ultimately ran into the locals. He couldn't even blame her for this, oh this would be spectacular!

"Don't say that." He frowned at her, only to stiffen as the three were held at sword point against their throats, a group of large hairy Vikings surrounding them.

"Doctor?" Clara glanced at him, not daring to move.

"No, no, not Vikings." The Doctor groaned, "I'm not in the mood for Vikings."

A man with long red hair and matching beard stepped forwards, clearly the one in charge of the group, "You're coming with us."

"No, I'm not. Do you want to know why?"' The Doctor countered, setting the sonic glasses on his face, "On my face, right now, more advanced technology than your species will manage over the next 9 million years."

The Viking grabbed the glasses and simply snapped them in two.

"Not today." Raven shook her head and turned back to the TARDIS only for another Viking to hold his sword out before her, "nevermind." She turned back around, death by Viking was too humiliating to argue with.

"Clara? Raven." The Doctor sighed, "We're going with the Vikings."

"They snapped your sonic in half."

"Yes, thank you, Raven, I did see that."

~.~

They had been chained and dragged onto a longboat, forced underneath for the journey to their village, seemed the group they had run into were the warriors on their way home back to their village and dragged them back with them.

Clara had asked if they had a plan to escape and get back to the TARDIS, but all the Doctor kept saying was 'yes, I have a plan', without actually saying the plan he apparently had, which both girls knew meant he didn't actually have a plan.

A loud horn was sounded, signally the group had returned as the villagers all rushed to meet their heroes. One of the young girls with braided hair around her head, rushed to meet the warriors, gushing about their journey.

"Plan, Doctor?" Clara huffed, "Any time soon."

"I do have a plan." He assured.

"Without the sonic," Raven added, hood down, knowing most of his plans involved the sonic.

"I do have a plan."

"You've been saying that for 2 days on a longboat." Clara deadpanned.

"I do have a plan." He insisted.

"There you go."

"You going to tell us this plan anytime soon?" Raven rolled her eyes, only to walk into his back as he came to a sudden stop, "god you're like a brick." she rubbed her nose.

The Doctor ignored her, staring at the young girl as one of the warrior handed her half of the sonic glasses.

"Do you know her?" Raven looked between him and the girl.

"Never seen her before in my life." He answered, grunting as a warrior pushed him on again.

"Ok, so, why are you staring?" Clara shook her head.

"I don't know. Nothing, probably. Too much time travel, it happens."

"What happens?"

"People talk about premonition as if it's something strange. It's not. It's just remembering in the wrong direction."

"Ok, plan."

"We meet the boss man and we do the usual."

"Replace the boss man?" Raven guessed.

The warriors bowed to an elder man with white hair as he approached them, villagers on either side of them, clearly the village elder.

"And how do we do that?" Clara whispered as the men spoke to the village elder.

"To the primitive mind, advanced technology can seem like magic."

Raven sighed heavily, "not the yo-yo. Please, not the yo-yo."

"It's in my pocket somewhere." The Doctor shifted, holding before him his manacles that are no longer securing him, as well as his yellow yo-yo.

"How did you do that?!" Clara gasped.

"Oh, don't encourage him." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Magic." He winked, tossing them in the air where they hit the village elder, causing the men to draw their swords and axes.

"How dare you attack our Chieftain!" The head warrior sneered.

"I am very, very cross with you. I am very disappointed. I have taken human form to walk among you."

"Who are you, old man?"

"Do you not recognise the sign of Odin?" He released his yo-yo.

"You are not Odin, and that is not Odin's sign."

"Oh, and you would know that how, exactly?" The Doctor scoffed, "Have you met Odin? Do you know what Odin looks like?"

As soon as he finished speaking thunder sounded along with a horn and a giant face appeared in the clouds with a winged helmet and eyepatch over one eye, his voice booming down to them, "Oh, my people. I am Odin. And now your day of reward has finally dawned."

"Do not believe this foolish trickery!" The Doctor called, struggling to get the yo-yo to reel back up as it swung limply by his side. "It's supposed to do that."

"Your mightiest warriors will feast with me tonight in the halls of Valhalla." 'Odin' announced as 5 red rays of lights appeared and 5 large yellow armoured beings appeared, guns in hands.

"Doctor..." Raven breathed, recognising the species.

This was not good, not good at all.

"Stay still." He warned, the pair and Clara slowly backing away, "Stay very, very still."

"That's not really Odin, is it?" Clara sighed.

"He hasn't even got a yo-yo."

"So this is an invasion."

"This is a harvest." Raven stated.

"The strongest, the fittest." The Doctor listed, "the weak and young, they'll leave behind."

They could only watch as the warriors were beamed away.

"We have to help them." Clara determined.

"We have to not get chosen." The Doctor corrected.

"We have to survive." Raven added. "Clara!" She huffed as the woman ran to the girl with the half sonic, trying to get free of her manacles as the rest of the strongest were teleported away, along with Clara and the girl, the aliens having seen the alien technology.

"Wait..." the Doctor murmured, waiting until the aliens disappeared again along with the face in the sky, "Clara..."

"I'm sorry Doctor." Raven whispered, a hand on his arm, knowing how much he cared about Clara. And now she was likely dead. Maybe there was a chance though, maybe they'd simply take the sonic and bring the girls back, maybe Clara could talk her way out of it. Perhaps reason with them. She doubted it. They were Mire, a dangerous and ruthless killing species, it was near enough impossible if Clara survived and came back, even more so if the girl returned with her, "Is there some way..." she held her still manacles hands to him.

"Yes." He nodded, distracted, pulling out a pin from his coat pocket and jiggling it around the lock, releasing them.

"Thank you." She murmured, rubbing her wrists.

"They took half the village." A blonde man murmured, seeing half were missing, the weak and young left behind.

"Yeah, and it was the good half." Another agreed.

"They went willingly to Valhalla as would we all." Another man remarked.

"I wouldn't." A few looked at him for that, "Well, I wouldn't. I'm not good with heights."

"Oh, stop it!" The Doctor snapped at them all, "All of you, stop it right now. Homo sapiens, you're an intelligent species. Stop lying to yourselves."

"They really aren't." Raven grumbled.

He pointed a stern finger at her, "shh!"

She raised her hands in surrender. A Doctor who just lost his companion was never someone she wanted to cross.

"Choose your words carefully, False Odin." The Doctor earned a glare at that.

"Yes, I am a false Odin. That's exactly right, I lied. The big fella in the sky, he lied too. You all know it. Because what's the one thing that gods never do? Gods never actually show up! Guess what? You got raided. Guess what else? I lost someone who matters to me."

"So did I."

"Doctor. I know you're sad about Clara but they were the Mire." Raven pointed out.

"Yes, I know." He nodded solemn.

"They might come back."

"Yes." She huffed, punching his arm. "Oi!" He cried, rubbing his arm, "what was that for?"

"The Mire may come back. And the only way we are leaving is if one of these lot," she gestured to the remaining vikings, "can row. So, how are you going to prevent them coming back and killing us as well?" She blinked as the red teleport light returned, beaming Clara and the young girl back.

The man who had snapped at the Doctor about having lost someone rushed to the small brunette. "My child!"

"Clara!" The Doctor grinned, rushing to her only to stop dead and hold a thumb out to her. "I'm not a hugger."

"I know." She panted.

"This is not a hug!" He cried running and spinning her around.

"Are you alright, Clara?" Raven asked, slowly walking over to her side.

She hadn't really been concerned for the woman, a little bit sad, she could admit Clara had grown on her over the years, but she wouldn't get emotional over her death. And she wouldn't admit out loud she was glad the woman was still alive...but she was glad.

"Where are the others?" The man asked, still holding his daughter close.

"I'm sorry, father," the girl buried her face in his chest.

"Clara..." Raven eyed her, "what happened? The Mire...they're are the deadliest warrior race in the galaxy, if they return here..."

Clara swallowed at her words. This would not be good.

"But you persuaded them to go, didn't you?" The Doctor beamed at her. "I knew you would."

"The deadliest warrior race in the galaxy." Clara repeated.

"One of them, yes. Why?"

"I think this village just declared war on them."

Raven cursed, "Oh shit..."

~.~

Clara had finally gotten out of her spacesuit, in her denim shirt, along with a borrowed wool vest from the girl, Ashildr. The girl having admitted that it was her fault the village was now at war with the Mire. Having seen the warriors and her heroes die and then face 'Odin' himself she had been afraid. Afraid and Viking didn't mix and so she declared war.

"They're coming here tomorrow," Clara sighed, "10 of them, to kill everybody in the village."

"Ashildr, is this true?" Her father asked her.

"It's my fault." She hung her head, ashamed.

"Not every misfortune that befalls this village is down to you." He soothed her, "She thinks she brings us bad luck."

"Yeah, like Raven thinks she's an omen of death," the Doctor jerked his head at her. "She isn't. You're fine."

"We are about to be attacked by..." one man interrupted.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes. With a whole day to spare! So leave! Hop it, take off! Into the woods, split up, hide. Hang about there for a week, come back home, make puddings and babies. That's basically what you do, isn't it?"

"We cannot leave this village." Ashildr's father argued.

"Course you can." Raven scoffed, "pack some supplies and run into the woods and to the next village."

"No." Another man stood up, "We will fight!"

"Aye!" Everyone agreed.

"How?" Raven rolled her eyes at them, "they took all of your warriors. The strongest are gone..."

"So, what are you?" The Doctor looked around at them, "Farmers, fishermen, web designers. Maybe not that last one."

"We are Vikings!" Ashildr's father threw a skin bag of weapons to the ground before them, the village cheering in agreement.

"Ok, tell me this. How many people here have actually held a sword in battle? By a show of hands? Mmm hmm. Yeah, baby." He raised his own, looking around at even, none raising their hand, until Clara raised her own, shrugging as he stared at her. He wasn't surprised that Raven didn't raise her own, thankful even. "The Mire are coming for each and every one of you. So what you going to do? Raise crops at them?"

"If necessary." A man nodded.

Raven moaned, "learn sarcasm."

"We're not cowards. We do not run. A death in battle is a death with honour."

"Do babies die with honour?" The Doctor wondered hearing a baby crying from elsewhere, "I am afraid, Mother." He closed his eyes, translating the cries, "Hold me, Mother. I am afraid."

"Er, he speaks Baby." Clara explained seeing the humans looking at him oddly.

"Turn your face towards me, Mother, for you're...you're beautiful. And I will sing for you. I am afraid, but I will sing. Babies think that laughter is singing. Did you know that? I applaud your courage, but I deplore your stupidity. And I will mourn your deaths, which will be terrifying, painful, and without honour."

Ashildr stood as the Doctor turned to leave, "Stay. You could help us. I know you could."

"We told you to run." He responded, looking back at her, "That's all the help you need. And that's all the help you're getting." he left the room and Raven quickly leapt up and followed him outside, not wanting to be left alone with the humans. "The Earth is safe, humanity is not in danger. It's just one village."

"You always said that one life is just as important as a whole planet." Raven frowned at him.

"Suppose I saved it by some miracle. No TARDIS, no sonic. Just one village defeats the Mire. What then? Word gets around. Earth becomes a target of strategic value, and the Mire come back. And God knows what else. Ripples into tidal waves until everybody dies."

"What's it saying?" Clara sighed, following them, hearing the baby still crying.

"She." He closed his eyes again, "She's afraid. Babies sense danger. They have to."

"Tell me."

"'Mother, I hear thunder. Mother, I hear shouting. You are my world, but I hear other worlds now. Beyond the unfolding of your smile, is there other kindness? I'm afraid. Will they be kind? The sky is crying now. Fire in the water. Fire in the water?'"

Clara smiled, her hand resting on the Doctors cheek as the baby quietened, "You just decided to stay." He looked at her confused, "The baby stopped crying."

~.~

Later the Doctor had gathered most of the remaining men to train them to use swords, giving them nicknames as he wouldn't remember their real names. Well, wouldn't actually try to remember them when they told him them. So nicknames were needed.

The training session failed badly, one man ending up cutting his knees so they moved to wooden swords, the session lasted longer, but still wasntt much better, actually, it went far worse.

Raven rested her head in her hands, utterly confused just what had gone wrong so badly in so little time, even with the Doctor in charge, she never expecting it to go this wrong. They were Vikings for gods sake! They might not have been the warriors, but fighting was what made them Vikings.

"Well, that could have gone better." The Doctor muttered.

"No sh..." Raven began but the Doctor cut her off, not letting her say the bad word as the blonde man he called Heidi slowly sat up, having passed out from the sight of a little blood.

"Morning."

"And there goes the horse." Raven muttered, seeing a horse take off into the woods, away from the fires.

"What happened?" He groaned.

"The Big Bang, dinosaurs, bipeds, and a mounting sense of futility."

"More recently, Chuckles hit Lofty over the head, on his helmet, with his sword, which knocked him out." Clara explained just how the village had caught fire with the women putting it out with water, "There was a little blood, which you saw," Heidi fainted again at the sight of blood, "and did that. Only, the first time you did it, you knocked a torch onto some hay, which spooked a horse, who kicked open a gate, and er, I'm sure you can fill in the rest."

~.~

That night, the two time lords sat outside of the village meeting house with Clara, as the villagers prepared for the battle tomorrow by having a large feast, ignoring the loud booms occasional going off in the dark sky.

"Weird sounding thunder." Clara commented.

"That's not thunder." The Doctor told her, "It's the weapon forges of the Mire. They're making sure we hear them."

"Well?"

"Well," he rubbed his face, "Heidi faints at the mention of blood, not just the sight any more. He's actually upgraded his phobia. Chuckles...he questions every single order you give him, which is going to be a little bit difficult, a little bit tricky, in the heat of battle."

"So, what's the real plan?" Raven asked, looking at him.

"Teaching them to fight, that's the only plan I've got."

"For now."

He looked at her for that remark.

"Turning them into fighters?" Clara shook her head at him, not believing that it would be the final plan, "That's not like you."

"Yeah." He sighed heavily, "I used to believe that too."

It was like Davros had said years ago, he turned his companions into soldiers. And like both Missy and Raven had said they weren't so different after all. He was starting to believe them.

"What happened?"

"You. Oh Clara Oswald what have I made of you."

"It doesn't matter how well you train them," she argued, "it's not going to make difference."

"They'll die fighting with honour. To a Viking, that's all the difference in the world."

"A good death? Is that the best they can hope for?"

"A good death is the best anyone can hope for."

"Unless you happen to be immortal." Raven added, "Or extended lifespan."

They fell silent as the meeting house door opened and Ashildr stepped out, the girls eyes widening slightly at having interrupted them, "sorry."

"No problem." Clara waved her off.

"Night." The Doctor offered her.

"You made an impact there."

"Stop it."

"She's nice. Fight you for her."

"Is that all you people think about," Raven groaned, stretching against the barrel she leaned against.

"You all need to get a hobby." The Doctor muttered.

"Me or Clara?"

"I've got a hobby, thanks." Clara remarked, knowing he meant her, Ravens hobby was insulting him and getting him to partake in banter despite how much he said he hated it. She loved it. "It's you, by the way."

"Well, get a new one." He huffed.

"Not this."

"Tomorrow it's going to be a bloodbath."

"Don't even ask."

"These people all died hundreds of years before you were born."

"I'm not running." Clara nearly yelled at him.

"I have a duty of care." He countered.

"To Raven!" She was yelling now, "I never asked for that."

"Can I leave?" Raven cut in making them look at her, "this conversation. I feel like I'm interrupting."

"No you're not," the Doctor sighed, rubbing his head, "Every time we do something like this, I keep thinking, what if something happens to you?"

"Well, stop thinking about me," Clara stood, "and start think about them, because you're missing something."

"What?" He looked up at her.

"How you're going to win. You always miss it, right up until the last minute. So put down your sword, stop playing soldier and look for it. Start winning, Doctor. It's what you're good at." With that she left and headed into the meeting house to grab a bite to eat herself.

"Mum was right," Raven laughed lightly, "you really are perfect for each other."

"Seriously shut up." He mumbled.

The control freak and the man who could never be controlled, she feared the people who would ever dare try and take Clara Oswald away from him.

~.~

Raven smirked as she entered the breakfast hut in the village finding Clara grabbing some breakfast, she snatched a piece of bread from Clara, ignoring the woman's complaints, "have you seen the Doctor anywhere?" she asked, shed been wandering the village most of the morning, past Ashildr in her hut, acting out with wooden puppets, she had just continued on, she wouldn't ask or let the girl known she had been seen. What that girl did in her own time was nothing to do with her.

"I thought he was with you." The woman swallowed a bit of food.

"Ah yes, I completely forgot he was with me. How silly of me. Seriously though, any ideas?"

"CLARA! RAVEN!"

"Probably where the yelling is," Clara sniggered, grabbing Ravens hand and pulled her off, dreading to think of the reasons for the yelling and following the yells and shouts to find him and Lofty in the boathouse, Lofty holding a baby.

"Oh I thought you were regenerating," Raven blinked seeing him staring at the barrels of water, "such a shame."

He chose to ignore her little dig at him, "Chuckles, bedtime is cancelled." He looked back at the man as he and Ashildr followed them in, having heard his yells, "Everybody, off the hard stuff. We've got a long night's work ahead of us. I need a blacksmith. Who's the blacksmith?"

"I'm the blacksmith." Lofty called.

"You're the blacksmith and you've got a baby too? He's been at it hammer and tongs."

"Doctor, explain." Clara said, "What's happening?"

"There's going to be a war tomorrow. And here's some news, this just in. We're going to win the hell out of it."

"How?" Raven shook her head, "have you finally got a plan?"

"Ashildr," he spun to face the girl, "this is your village, and you will never have to leave it, I swear." He had had a small conversation with her earlier back in her hut, the girl had admitted she would rather die in the village with those she loved than leave and survive.

"Seriously, how?" Clara asked.

"I told you that we were basically doomed. Did no one in this two-horn town think to mention that you had eels?"

"Eels?"

"I give you fire in the water!" He gestured to the electric eels in the battles of water. "Electric eels! Yes, yes!" The Doctor nodded as the baby cried, "I know exactly how you feel. Well, not exactly. She needs changing." He informed Lofty.

"So plan?" Raven huffed, seeing he kept getting distracted.

"And it's a doozy!"

"Anytime you want to explain, Doctor."

~.~

The villagers gathered in the meeting house as the Doctor explains the plan, having already given a few people jobs, like Ashildr and Clara had shown Lofty how to work her mobile phone.

"Then we deploy the anvil." The Doctor was saying, "Now, at this stage, getting me one of their helmets is key. We get a helmet, and this is over. Then we can mop up the rest using Ashildr's monstrosity." He nodded to the girl who threw of the blanket covering her wood work.

"That's terrible." Raven gasped.

"I know."

~.~

The plan was set and ready and all they needed to do now was wait for the Mire, which was why the entire village was in the meeting house, music playing as the locals danced and enjoyed themselves for what could be their last moments in the plan failed. Hopefully it would, it shouldn't do.

"Hey, hello, hi!" The Doctor greeted cheerily as the Mire warriors and 'Odin' stomped in to fight, "I'm the Doctor. It's lovely to meet you face to er convincing hologram. You could always go zzz and get rid of it, no? No, on second thoughts, don't. That, that, that suits you."

"It is time to fight." Odin glared.

"No, no, no. We decided against that. We thought we'd just have a party!"

"Let me put it another way. You fight or you die."

"We're unarmed." Ravens raised her hands, "surely your weapons system is telling you there are no weapons. You wouldn't open fire on unarmed civilians, would you?" She battered her eyelashes at them, innocent.

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Lofty, how had been throwing horseshoes onto a hook, hit one of Mire's armour making them look up to see the wires wrapping around the candleholders.

"Chuckles, now!" The Doctor ordered.

The man in the boathouse hitting a barrel of eels sending the electricity running through the wires and into the Mire.

"Run, run, run, run, run, run!" The Doctor ushered the villagers out, "That's 4 down, 6 left."

"Go!" Odin ordered his remaining Mire to attack.

"Chuckles, switch!"

More electricity came down, sending the Mires weapons and helmets to the roof revealing the large creatures hidden inside, barring rows of sharp teeth.

"Chuckles off!"

"Got it!" Raven called, grabbing a helmet as they and the weapons dropped to the floor as Clara grabbed a weapon to stop Odin attacking again.

"How's it coming?" The woman backed up as Raven hid behind a few barrels with the Doctor and Ashildr, the villagers distracting the remaining Mire.

"Distracting me." She muttered as Clara rolled her eyes, "I can actually feel your eyes rolling. It's ready!"

"Ashildr!" The Doctor called, the girl hurrying to the large chair, "are you ready?"

"I'm scared." She whispered.

"Don't worry. You were born for this." He told her as he set the helmet on her head, "show them a story they'll never forget." The girl held the helmet steady on her head as the doors burst open and the badly made wooden dragon she had built rolled in, the Mire backing away in fear.

"What is this?" Odin shouted, him and the Mire seeing a long necked Wrym. Ashildr imagining it, her mind connecting to the helmets that showed the Wrym in the Mires heads, "it's impossible!"

"Withdraw. Withdraw."

"Stand and fight!" Odin ordered, trying to attack but their weapons were useless in wood and the Mire teleported out. "Cowards!"

"That's enough Ashildr," Raven told her and by Odins face he was now seeing just how bad the dragon was, and he and his warriors had been terrified of it.

"Story's over," the Doctor smiled, "happy ending."

"What is this trickery!" Odin cried.

"Ha! Says the man with a fake face. But you see, that's the trouble with viewing reality through technology. It's all too easy to feed in a new reality. A story to save a town, and a puppet from a nightmare. You see, you've just seen the world through the eyes of a storyteller. The mighty armies of the Mire. Brutal, sadistic, undefeated. Even I believed the stories. But after today, no one will again. An army like yours, it lives or dies on its reputation, its story. And today, you were sent packing by a handful of farmers and fisherman. Not to mention the whole wetting your pants and running away from a puppet debacle."

"See that was really funny." Clara laughed, taking her phone from Heidi, the man having recorded the entire thing.

"And we got it on film to watch over and over again!" Raven called, "oh! You know who'd really get a good kick from this...mum!"

"See, all it needed was the Benny Hill theme." Clara added.

"The Benny Hill theme, yes." The Doctor agreed, "Now, you see, we could just keep this as a funny little film and play it every year at the Christmas party, or I could upload it to the galactic hub and get a second opinion. So the question you need to ask yourself is this. Just how important is your reputation to you? Here's a little sneak preview, piped straight into your helmets, free of charge."

They related the video showing Odin and the Mire backing away in fear from the badly made wooden dragon and teleporting away, like cowards.

"Just one press of a button and everyone in the galaxy can see this," Raven held her hand inches from the button to send to everyone.

"Unless you leave right now." The Doctor remarked.

"This humiliation will not go unpunished," Odin glared, "we will meet again."

"Oh, I hacked your teleported," the Doctor waved him off, teleporting him away, "sorry."

"You did it Ashildr." Chuckles went to his daughters side, "you did it. You saved us all."

Raven dropped to the poor girls side, fingers to her neck, finding no pulse but checked on her wrist as well, "She's gone..." she glanced up just in time to see the Doctor running out of the room.

She had done this, she had tampered with the helmet, the Doctor had told the girl it would be safe, but they both knew it wouldn't be 100%, she had lasted longer than they had expected, and hoped it wouldn't kill her.

Seems they had been very wrong.

"Raven..." Clara whispered.

"You." She turned to face the human, "I'm not good at comfort."

Clara nodded and ran to find him as Raven slowly followed, not wanting to stay in the room of mourning villagers.

"Heart failure, yeah?" Clara called as she found him in the boathouse staring at his reflection in the water.

"Yeah." He sighed heavily, "I plugged her into the machine. Used her up like a battery. I'm so sick of losing."

"You didn't lose." She reminded him softly, "You saved the town."

"I don't mean the war. I'll lose any war you like. I'm sick of losing people. Look at you, with your eyes, and your never giving up, and your anger, and your kindness. One day, the memory of that will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe, and I'll do what I always do. I'll get in my box and I'll run and I'll run, in case all the pain ever catches up. And every place I go, it will be there."

"Hey," Raven walked over, leaning on the barrel besides him to make him look her head, "you weren't the one you tampered with the helmet. That was me, another minute and I probably could have figured out how to make it human comparable."

"You did your best." Clara added, "She died. There's nothing you can do."

"I can do anything." He argued, "There's nothing I can't do. Nothing. But I'm not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves, rules. I'm not supposed to. Oh. Oh!" He looked at his reflection in the water, eyes wide.

"What? What's wrong?"

"My face." He breathed.

"Is old and wrinkly, yes." Raven nodded.

"I think I know why I chose it. I think I know what I'm trying to say. I know where I got this face, and I know what it's for."

"Where did you get it?" Raven asked.

"What's it for?" Clara shook her head.

"To remind me." He answered her, "To hold me to the mark. I'm the Doctor, and I save people. And if anyone happens to be listening, and you've got any kind of a problem with that, to hell with you!"

"And now they're definitely going to kill you." Raven deadpanned, knowing he was yelling to the Time Lords. Not that they were really listening.

They had been listening on Trenzalore and she knew all the bad things he said about them, well, if they did ever make it back to Gallifrey the Time Lords would not be impressed.

Probably put him on trail and make him president.

Again.

~.~

Ashildr was set on a bed of furs, her father holding her hand as the Doctor and Raven worked in the Mire helmet to try and save Ashildr.

"What's he doing?" Chuckles asked, refusing to let go of his daughters hand.

"Saving her," Clara frowned, "I think."

The Doctor held up a small golden chip he received from the helmet, "It's from the Mire helmet. Battlefield medical kit. I've reprogrammed it for human beings." he set it on Ashildrs forehead and it slowly absorbed into her head.

"It's gone." Chuckles gasped, "It's inside her."

"It's repairing her. It will never stop repairing her, if it works. Come on, Ashildr. Come on. The story's not over yet."

"Daughter, listen to me." Chuckles soothed, whispering in her ear as he stroked her hair, "This town has lost so much. If we lose you too there'll be nothing left."

Raven shared a look with the Doctor as there was nothing...until Ashildr gasped away, opening her eyes briefly.

"Ashildr!

"Let her sleep," Raven murmured, "give it 2 days and she'll be conscious, fully healed after 3."

"No swimming for a week." the Doctor added, thankful it had worked on her, "Now we're going to need a longboat and some of your best rowers. We're two days' sail from the TARDIS. Come on, you two."

"Wait, no." Chuckles stood to stop them leaving, "She'll want to see you when she wakes."

"Oh, no. Well, she'll…she'll see us often enough once she understands."

~.~

"Ok, its official," Clara remarked as they walked through the forest to the TARDIS. The village men having rowed them back, leaving the women, children and Chuckles with Ashildr. "Silence is even worse in a Scottish accent. Are you going to tell me what you're brooding."

"The repair kit will never stop repairing her. It'll keep fixing her and fixing her." Raven stated

"Well, good. Isn't that good?"

"Repairing the slightest cut to the deepest stab wound."

"it's entirely possible she has lost the ability to die." The Doctor sighed.

"The ability?" Clara frowned at that.

"Oh, dying is an ability, believe me. Barring accidents, she may now be functionally immortal."

"If the repair chip never stops working, why did you give her two?"

"Immortality isn't living forever." The Doctor sighed, "That's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying. She might meet someone she can't bear to lose. That happens, I believe." He looked at her as he unlocked the TARDIS doors, "I was angry. I was emotional. Just possibly, I have made a terrible mistake. Maybe even a tidal wave." He sent them into the vortex, "Time will tell, it always does."

"Whatever you did for Ashildr, I think she deserved it."

"But she's not fully human anymore, the repair chip is Mire technology, built for them. And now it's in her. She's sort of a human-Mire hybrid..."


End file.
